PrintOctober 19, 2009
China and carbon emissions
The declared war against global warming by governments, organizations and environmentalists had no credibility when both the United States, under George W. Bush, and China, the two biggest carbon emitters, were not playing along. But the election of Barack Obama brought the United States into the forefront of global warming pronouncements; China remained enough of a question mark to cool down any warming rhetoric.On the road to Copenhagen to replace the Kyoto Protocol next December, a surprise awaited both advocates and opponents of carbon regulations and legislations at the United Nations summit on climate change in New York in September 2009. In what was labeled by some news media as the first ever official statement by top Chinese leadership, President Hu Jintao spoke about the "international responsibility on climate change" and China's strategy on carbon reduction. There was talk in the media, eventually proven to be wishful thinking, about China's "advanced...(Read Full Article)
