President Barack Obama is really proud of his “historic climate change deal” with Chinese President Xi Jinping. But, the problem is the only party that had to reach back in history to make the deal was the United States.
Under Obama’s “historic” deal, the United States agreed to reduce carbon emissions back to its 2005 level by 2025. China, on the other hand, agreed to keep right on being the worst polluter on the planet until 2030—at which point the ruling Communist Party will, supposedly, cap its carbon emissions level.
Just to be clear, the dictatorship running China has 16 years to continue on its upward current carbon emissions path with absolutely no limitations. After 16 years of continuing to be the world’s worst offender, China will cap its carbon emissions…. at the level it reaches 16 years from now.
To put that all in perspective, it’s important to note that China has, since 2000, exponentially increased its carbon emissions. China’s emissions from fossil fuels grew 150% from 1995 to 2010. The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) projections indicate that, by 2030, China’s carbon emissions will surge to unprecedented levels.
Obama’s agreement is nothing less than a historically bad deal, which actually encourages China to increase its emissions before the cap is put in place. You can check out graphs (via mongabay.com) of EIA data below.
get Obama out of office