U.S., China Share Plans For Climate Action

U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping are backing significant increases in basic research and development into clean energy technologies. Their endorsement, part of a joint statement on climate change released in late September during Xi’s state visit to Washington, D.C., calls for more R&D to help in the transition to economies that emit low amounts of carbon dioxide by midcentury. Also, the statement announced that China in 2017 will launch a domestic carbon dioxide emission trading system for key industrial sectors including chemical manufacturing and power generation. In addition, Obama and Xi laid out their expectations for a new UN climate change agreement set to be completed this December in Paris. They envision a deal that will encourage countries to periodically review their greenhouse gas emission commitments and set increasingly tighter limits on them over time. Also, China committed $3.1 billion in financial assistance to help developing countries combat climate change, which is slightly more than the $3 billion the U.S. had previously pledged.