This week has seen climate change developments from both China and Japan. One of them is progressive and forward thinking, the other is unambitious and tokenistic. Would you know which one is which?
For all its bad press, China has actually been surprisingly active on the climate change front. China’s environment is on the verge of catastrophe, with polluted rivers and encroaching deserts. Sustainability is a vital domestic issue as well as an international debate, and China is taking climate change seriously. They already lead the world in renewable energy. BYD, who until recently were best known for mobile phone batteries, have begun producing electric cars. Their E6, due this year, will do 186 miles on a charge, and can charge in as little as 15 minutes.
As we have mentioned before, electric cars are useless unless their energy source is renewable. Fortunately, this week China announced new targets to switch 20% of the electricity supply to renewable energy by 2020. Unlike the UK’s renewable targets, which were set high for political gain and then re-arranged to squirm out of, China’s are realistic and acheivable. They are already on track to meet them, and may well surpass 20% by a considerable amount. China has yet to set an overall emissions target, but it is considering them.
Japan also announced some new targets this week, to lower emissions by 15% by 2020. It has been lamented as the weakest commitment any country has made to emissions cuts. Under the Kyoto agreement, Japan was set to reduce its emissions to 6% below the 1990 baseline by 2012. Instead, emissions have risen by 7%. This week’s target moves the goalposts and takes 2005 as a baseline, letting them off the hook on all the growth that occurred in the last 15 years.
However, while Europe heaps derision on Japan’s targets, it should be pointed out that Japan will not use any offsets. That 15% will be 15%. The EU has committed to 20% cuts by 2020, but will allow up to half of that to be offset, meaning Japan’s cuts might actually deliver more genuine results.
All of this political maneouvring is setting the chessboard for the crucial climate summit in Copenhagen in December. The preparatory talks in Bonn end today, and China and Japan have both set out their positions. By declaring a target now, Japan could prove to be a serious obstacle in the ‘I will if you will’ negotiations. Other developed countries will not accept lower targets if Japan has given itself an economic advantage.
China has objections of its own, such as per capita emissions being a focus rather than national totals (China emits more carbon than anywhere else, but per capita emissions are only a tenth of the US), but their announcements this week show a shift in policy and a willingness to engage.
It will be an interesting few months.
The Earthbound Report 