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Report Urges US And China To Cooperate On Climate Change

Posted on: Friday, 6 February 2009, 11:29 CST

A report co-produced by the new U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu warned on Friday that cooperation between China and the United States is crucial to successfully address the climate change problem.

The report titled "Roadmap for U.S.-China Cooperation on Energy and Climate Change" said the world’s top two emitters of greenhouse gases must bring their leaders together for a climate summit, to overcome protectionist fears and speed up research and rollout of cleaner technologies.

"If these two countries cannot find ways to bridge the long-standing divide on this issue, there will literally be no solution," the report said.

It went on to warn that it is now increasingly self-evident that our planet is approaching a point of no return on the question of global warming.

Leaders of the many countries are being urged to take immediate action and collaborate on developing technologies for clean use of coal, enhancing the use of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind, and creating new mechanisms for financing clean energy.

Before his nomination as Barack Obama's Energy Secretary, Chu was Co-Chair of the project—a joint effort by the Pew Center on Global Climate Change and the Asia Society Center on U.S.-China relations.

One senior manager told Reuters the project had been largely completed when he withdrew.

Asia Society Center Director Orville Schell said he dropped out only after his surprise nomination and that it had really been finished.

As Energy Secretary, Chu has vowed to develop clean energy sources and said scientific research is key to tackling climate change.

He said last month the administration would seek a cap-and-trade system to cut emissions and head off the threat of "dramatic, disruptive changes to our climate in the lifetimes of our children and grandchildren."

U.S. and China now have more opportunity to spur improvements in energy efficiency due to the global economic crisis. The U.S. has proposed a stimulus package that includes grants, tax breaks and loan guarantees to promote solar and wind energy development and to cut energy use in everything from government buildings to schools and homes.

China agreed to subsidize investment in energy efficiency and technology as part of a $586 billion stimulus package.

Liu Deshun, a professor with the Institute of Nuclear Energy and New Energy Technology at Tsinghua University in Beijing, said China's economic development is now at a stage where the development must be sustainable and there must be protection of resources and the environment.

“Therefore, the issue of climate change cannot be avoided."

The report said the U.S. and China must immediately begin acting in concert, without awaiting new domestic legislation or multilateral agreements.

Due to rising diplomatic pressure and increasing evidence of the strain it will put on its already fragile environment, global warming has sped up the agenda of China's leaders.

However, China has insisted that rich nations that enjoyed emissions intensive development must give developing countries cash and technology so they do not have to sacrifice economic growth to tackle warming, and it has been unhappy with global talks so far.

While China rivals the United States as the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, it has said its economy should not be penalized by binding cuts in emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases when their per capita emissions are much below those in developed countries.

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On the Net:

• Roadmap for U.S.-China Cooperation on Energy and Climate Change
• Pew Center on Global Climate Change
• Asia Society Center

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

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