1970-01-01 08:33:27
The US must begin to cut emissions of greenhouse gases before it can expect developing nations such as China and India to do so, US California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said.
US President George W. Bush has refused to commit the US to absolute cuts in emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for global warming, citing the potential damage to the economy. On May 31, he said he would convene talks among the 15 biggest emitters, including India and China, in order to "set a long-term global goal "for reducing greenhouse gases.
While a world framework on cutting emissions should involve both India and China, the US needs to take the lead in fighting climate change, Schwarzenegger said today in a press conference in London with UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.
"We can't go to India and China and say, 'This is what we want you to do, we want you to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, when we are in fact the one that has 5 percent of world population and emits 25 percent of greenhouse gases," the governor said. "We have to show leadership."
In the absence of federal emissions cuts, US states are setting their own measures, Schwarzenegger said. He cited California's targets of reducing the output of gases to 1990 levels by 2020, and a further 80 percent cut by 2050.
Kyoto Protocol
Bush in 2001 rejected the Kyoto Protocol, the only global emissions-reductions treaty. Under the pact, 35 nations and the European Union committed to cut emissions by a combined 5.2 percent from 1990 levels by 2012.
The US and Australia are the only two major developed nations that haven't ratified the treaty, which gives no binding targets to China and India.
Developing Nations
The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change this year said in a series of reports that steep cuts in emissions are needed to stave off the worst ravages of global warming, including floods, droughts and rising sea levels. To achieve those reductions, a global agreement is needed to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.
Developing nations say their priority is to lift people out of poverty, and industrialized nations bear the bulk of the historical responsibility for solving the problem.
"China has a difficult challenge matching economic growth with limitations on emissions," Yvo de Boer, the United Nations' top climate official, said in a June 21 interview in London.
'100 Years of Polluting'
"They're two different kettles of fish: the US has had over 100 years of polluting the climate," Mittler said in a June 21 phone interview from Berlin. "They're still by far the worst in terms of per capita emissions, so the two can't be compared."
China is already doing "far better" than the US in pursuing energy efficiency, the NET's Clapp said.
China has set itself an "intensity" target to slash carbon dioxide emitted per unit of economic output by 20 percent from 2005 to 2012. That compares to a 2002 plan by Bush to cut the US economy's carbon intensity by 18 percent by 2012. China also is requiring automakers to build cars that on average travel more than 35 miles per gallon by 2008. The US Senate on June 21 passed legislation to bring a similar standard in by 2020.
"The US cannot expect leading developing countries to act if they're not," Clapp said. "The argument from China will always be: 'Why should we take on the burden when you created the problem?"'
Source:chinadaily.com.cn