The Obama administration will tout new agreements between U.S. and Chinese cities Tuesday as part of an attempt to add credibility to a pledge the two countries made last year to combat climate change.
The U.S.-China Leadership Summit, held in Los Angeles, will showcase a number of new commitments by cities, states and provinces in the U.S. and China to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that most scientists say are causing the Earth’s climate to warm.
The summit also will announce a first-of-a-kind pledge between U.S. and Chinese cities to collaborate on reducing their emissions and help the two countries meet their obligations. For example, Los Angeles and Beijing will work together on a number of initiatives to share ways to cut their emissions. California, also, is working with China on ways to reduce emissions and sharing their results.
“Last year was the year for setting goals and targets,” Brian Deese, the president’s senior adviser on climate change, told reporters. “This year is a year for implementation … with ambitious concrete steps to reduce our emissions in a way that drives our economies forward.”
The U.S. pledged to reduce its emissions 28 percent by 2025, while China pledged to reach peak emissions by 2030. Republicans argue that the agreement has no teeth, saying that China would hit its peak in 2030 without doing anything beyond what it is already doing.
Deese, appearing to address the criticism, said China will open the summit by announcing the “formation of peaking pioneer cities,” demonstrating that several of its cities, representing 25 percent of its urban emissions, will pledge to hit peak emissions in 2020, 10 years ahead of schedule.
“This is important … because it highlights that the country as a whole is moving forward to meet [its] national goal,” Deese said. The commitment to cutting 1.2 gigatons of carbon dioxide by Beijing and other Chinese cities is “roughly the same emissions as Japan and Brazil.” It’s “a big deal,” he said.
U.S. cities also will be making announcements of “dramatic” reductions, he said. Seattle will announce it will become carbon neutral by 2050. Other announcements will follow the signing of a “U.S.-China Climate Leaders Declaration” by Chinese cities and Atlanta, Boston, Los Angeles, Connecticut, Portland, Ore., Seattle, Houston, Salt Lake City, Des Moines, Iowa, Carmel, Ind., Pinecrest and Miami-Dade County in Florida, Boston, San Francisco and the District of Columbia.
The declaration is “the first of its kind between multiple community leaders from the United States and China to take parallel steps to address climate change at the state and local level, and is a concrete statement of intent by city, state, and provincial leaders from the United States and China to implement ambitious, verifiable actions to address climate change and simultaneously to support and expand bilateral cooperation and dialogue,” a White House fact sheet reads.
