IEA: China’s Climate Pledge to meet 1/4th of Needed Cuts

This is the most positive take I’ve seen thus far about the proposals that have been put on the table by the US and China.  A little too optimistic in my opinion, but I figured it was worth sharing.  The IEA calculates that the China and US proposals for emissions reductions are on part with what’s needed to prevent a 2 degrees Celsius rise in temperature, which scientists say would prevent runaway climate change.  Excerpts below.

“China alone would be responsible for more than 25 percent of the reductions the world needs” to limit planetary warming to 2.0 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), said Fatih Birol, chief economist at the International Energy Agency (IEA).”

“The world needs to decrease the emissions by 3.8 gigatonnes [billion tonnes of carbon dioxide], and China would cut by around one gigatonne.

“This would put China at the forefront of the fight against climate change,” he told AFP in an interview.”

“Birol also hailed Washington’s announcement the day before that the US would — relative to a 2005 benchmark — scale back carbon emissions by 17 percent by 2020, 30 percent by 2025, 42 percent by 2030 and 83 percent by 2050.

“This decision is going to change the entire mood and structure of the Copenhagen discussion,” he said of the US position.”

“In its Energy Outlook report released in October, the IEA calculated the carbon-cutting efforts required from each of the world’s major emitters to avoid breaching the 2.0 C (3.6 F) threshold.

The projections for 2020 and 2030 seen for Beijing and Washington were “spot on,” Birol said proudly. For China, the projection for 2020 is based on a forecast eight-percent annual growth in GDP.”