China and U.S. make joint environmental agreement

With great power comes great responsibility.

Currently, the United States and China are the world’s largest economies, but also the world’s largest energy consumers and greenhouse gas emitters. On Nov. 12, at the conclusion of the 2014 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Beijing, U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping announced a climate change agreement in which both nations would aim to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the next two decades and hopefully prompt other nations to follow suit as well.

This momentous climate change accord is the product of over nine months of talks between Washington and Beijing.

Obama established a goal of reducing U.S. carbon emission levels by 26 to 28 percent below 2005’s emission levels by 2025. For Obama, addressing climate change issues constitutes a major part of his agenda during his second term as president.

Xi promised that China’s carbon emissions would stop increasing by 2030, if not sooner. His pledge marks China’s first-ever commitment to terminate the growth of carbon emissions. China currently derives 80 percent of its energy from coal, which causes widespread negative environmental effects, including copious amounts of carbon pollution. In order to reduce carbon emissions, Xi promised that China will derive 20 percent of its total energy from renewable clean energy sources, such as windmills and solar power, by 2030.

China is already a world leader in renewable energy production. In 2013, China was the world’s No. 1 producer of renewable energy, primarily from hydroelectric and wind power. The Three Gorges Dam, a hydroelectric dam that spans the Yangtze River, is the world’s largest power station in terms of full-load sustained output and the world’s second-largest operating hydroelectric facility in terms of annual energy generation. As of 2014, China leads the world in the production and usage of wind power, solar power and smart grid technologies. Even so, renewable energy sources account for only a tiny proportion of China’s total energy production, with a total of seven percent in 2011.

The U.S. and China are engaged in an intense rivalry for dominance in the Asia-Pacific region, as the U.S. aspires to consolidate influence in Asia while China strives to become the region’s chief military and economic power.

But with the new climate change accord, the two nations have agreed to reduce air pollution and tackle global climate change together, ushering in a new era of collaboration and partnership between them.

Experts believe that a climate agreement between China and the U.S., the world’s No. 1 and No. 2 emitters of carbon dioxide, respectively, is crucial to the execution of a new global accord for addressing carbon pollution and climate disruption. Climate experts believe that few other nations will agree to implement mandatory reductions in emissions unless Beijing and Washington can agree with each other.

Presidents Obama and Xi jointly announced the landmark climate change agreement just three weeks before the start of the 2014 United Nations Climate Change Conference, taking place in Lima, Peru from Dec. 1 to Dec. 12. At the conference, world leaders will aim to devise international agreements to combat global climate change and decrease greenhouse gas emissions.

In the U.S., environmental groups across the nation immediately applauded the accord when it was announced. However, not everyone is happy. For Obama, a major obstacle to reaching the goals of the accord is domestic opposition from the Republican-controlled Congress, as some in the party may attempt to prevent the proposed cuts from becoming reality. Additionally, conservatives and industry groups have a history of vehemently opposing Obama’s climate initiatives. These groups fear that executive actions, such as the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan for reducing emissions from new power plants, will hinder economic growth.

As two of the world’s most powerful nations put aside their differences and join forces to battle global climate change, people everywhere hope for a cleaner, healthier tomorrow.