• China begins the long march to Paris
Blogpost by Li Shuo - 1 July, 2015 at 4:201 comment
In the politics of climate change, it doesn't get much bigger than this. The world's biggest emitter last night announced how it intends to reduce its carbon emission beyond 2020.
China has joined 41 other nations to unveil its 'Intended Nationally Determined Contribution', or INDC in UN jargon. These are documents that every country attending this year's climate summit in Paris must submit. They are long and tedious, but we did the hard work for you.
Here are three simple takeaways.
1. China is joining the battle against climate change. This alone is BIG.
For years China believed that it was industrialised Western nations who bore the primary responsibility for fixing the climate problem. This view has changed. China is now a fully active participant in the battle to keep global warming in check. Last November, China announced its intention to peak CO2 emissions earlier than 2030 and to ramp up clean energy use to around 20% by 2030. This gave the world an important preview of its long term plan.