Are Chinese emissions pledges a game changer for Senate action?

[RedEarth]

Are Chinese emissions pledges a game changer for Senate action?
by Joseph Romm on 09/23/2009 10:56 0 comments , 34 views
Categories: Politics & Legislation, Climate
Tags: china, greenhouse gas emissions, un, us, e&e daily China’s emissions pledge shakes up Capitol Hill debate

… “That’s encouraging,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). “That will help us make decisions on our emission problems.”

Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) said … “that’s a step in the right direction.”

That’s the E&E News PM (subs. req’d) headline and a couple of excerpts from their story on Chinese President Hu Jintao’s UN speech.

We already knew that all evidence suggests China will lead (see “Peaking Duck: Beijing’s Growing Appetite for Climate Action“) — if the Congress passes a climate bill (see “ ‘China will sign’ global treaty if U.S. passes climate bill, E.U. leader says“).

Yesterday, Hu said (speech here):

We will endeavor to cut carbon dioxide emissions GDP by a notable margin by 2020 from the 2005 level.Second, we will vigorously develop renewable energy and nuclear energy. We will endeavor to increase the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to around 15 percent by 2020.

Third, we will energetically increase forest carbon … we will endeavor to increase forest coverage by 40 million hectares and forest stock volume by 1.3 billion cubic meters by 2020 from the 2005 levels.

Fourth, we will step up our efforts to develop green economy, low carbon economy … and enhance research, development and dissemination of climate-friendly technologies.

Certainly, China is going to eat our lunch on clean energy jobs if we don’t pass the clean air, clean water, clean energy jobs bill (see “Invented here, sold there”). And certainly we need to hear the specific details about the carbon intensity pledge — I’d like to see them commit to reduce CO2 per GDP by more than 50% from 2005 to 2020.

But is the growing willingness of China to make real commitments going to change the dynamics in the Senate, where China’s suppose an unwillingness to act has been one of the two or three biggest objections? Here are more some excerpts from the E&E story:

http://theenergycollective.com/TheEnergyCollective/48432

[kristopher]

1. "Are Chinese emissions pledges a game changer for Senate action?"

I doubt it. That was just a convenient scapegoat used by fossil fuel interests to avoid taking action. The base that buys into the antiGreen message don't need valid excuses to oppose action, they just require something to quiet the cognitive dissonance created by the world telling them that Rush Limbaugh etal are wrong. They will soon find a replacement for the "China is unfair to the US" meme and it will work just as well for most of them.

[Nihil]

2. Agreed ...

... and I suspect that the "replacement for the 'China is unfair to the US' meme"
will start with "India is unfair to the US" then progress through "Indonesia is
unfair to the US", "Thailand is unfair to the US", "Poland is unfair to the US"
and so on until "Bhutan is unfair to the US" ...

At least this will teach some of them a bit of geography ... :shrug: