China will improve energy efficiency 40-45 percent by 2050, compared to 2005, Chinese officials announced 26 November, without offering any details. By improving energy efficiency, China also reduces CO2 emissions.Chinese leaders almost immediately cautioned that their energy goals were domestic, and asked the world to trust them. Xie Zhenhua, the Chinese climate policy expert who announced the goals said, “Although this is a domestic voluntary action, it is binding. As we’ve made this commitment, well, Chinese people stick to their word.”
US experts have welcomed the move, saying that China now joins other major economic powers in announcing plans for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions ahead of the Copenhagen conference on climate change that opens 7 December.
Some experts warn that the Chinese will not want to be held to account, and point out the difficulties in measuring, reporting and verifying progress on those commitments.
Not just H2O in those clouds
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss government is committed to cuts in greenhouse gas emissions of 20 percent compared to 1990, and a proposed new law sent to Parliament 28 August outlines how it wants to achieve that goal.
The measures proposed are to:
China is the world’s third largest economy and now the “world’s top greenhouse gas emitter,” notes Reuters, as Todd Stern, the US official with responsibility for climate change policy, visits Beijing, the latest in a series of meetings designed to move closer to agreement on gas emissions. China is grappling with balancing strong growth and reducing emissions. A Chinese official quoted by Reuters, Gao Guangsheng, says that “bridging disputes on basic principles will probably push talks to the wire” in December in Copenhagen meeting. Ministers from several countries will be meeting then to replace the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. Xinhua
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Fuel consumption by cars on Swiss roads fell by 3.9 percent in 2008 compared to 2007, to 7.14liters/100km on average, but the it was still short of the consumption target of 6.4l/100km by the end of 2008. A voluntary agreement between the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communication (Detec), signed with car importers in 2002, set the target. Detec released the figures Thursday 7 May.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch), The Federal Council yesterday rejected calls to extend the carbon tax to gasoline and diesel fuel, but said it would commit to a 20 percent reduction of greenhouse gases over 1990 levels by the year 2020, in line with the European Union. The decision is part of the council’s recommendations to Parliament to revise Swiss energy laws.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao opened a conference on climate change in Beijing by insisting that rich nations must reduce pollution, sparking anew a debate over who should pay how much to reduce carbon emissions. Wen called for rich countries to end their unsustainable lifestyle and to help poorer nations obtain pollution reduction technology. While China now has the highest level of carbon emissions it lags far behind the US and other countries in the per person level of CO2 emissions. Reuters
Swiss forest, Valais: improved forest management and greater use of wood for buildings and heating fuel are helping reduce CO2.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland will likely meet its 2012 obligations for reducing CO2 that are part of the Kyoto Protocol, which it ratified in 2012. It should also be able to meet the country’s stricter CO2 Act obligations.
The global carbon budget, a method for calculating carbon added to the atmosphere, the “underpinning of human induced climate change,” indicates that CO2 emmissions have been growing four times faster since 2000 than during the previous decade. The budget, a project involving several universities and research organizations around the world, was published late Thursday night by Global Carbon Project (2008) Carbon budget and trends 2007.
