The past week of events – from a U.S. Senate hearing, to remarks by China’s State Council, to high-level talks in Beijing – have scattered a layer of rich soil from which robust US-China cooperation on climate change might spring forth.
However, that soil is not uniform in content. The issue of quantifiable emissions reductions, central to continued bilateral discussions leading up to Copenhagen, is anything but homogeneously understood, as recent events demonstrate.
Senate Hearing on U.S.-China Cooperation on Climate Change
On the heels of Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry’s visit to Beijing, which culminated in a vague-but-hopeful China-U.S. Clean Energy Initiatives Agreement, Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing in Washington on that topic.
Throughout the hearing, panelists stressed the importance of emissions reductions that are “measurable, reportable, and verifiable.”
However, Kerry and at least one panelist differed in their perspectives on China’s capacity to deliver such reductions.
Kerry heaped praise upon Chinese energy initiatives, saying:
“The Chinese are beginning to realize that addressing climate change and pursuing sustainable energy policies is very much in their own national interest” and “I believe … we are going to see very significant reductions from China.”
Council on Foreign Relations scholar Elizabeth Economy appeared less convinced.
