INTERNATIONAL media put much importance to the news that the United States of America and China have declared that they would set targets on greenhouse emissions. This is seen as a historic move considering the degrading environment and increased pollution by first world nations. International and local dailies have reported that the move saw almost unanimous support from all climate scientists around the globe. But it drew heat from US Republicans who fear that decreasing greenhouse emissions would be achieved only by reducing production and thus creating an employment crisis instead.
According to international sources, both Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Barack Obama consider this as a ‘historic agreement’ and ‘agree to make sure that international climate change negotiations will reach an agreement in Paris’, where international talks will take place next year. Reports also added that China set a target for its greenhouse gas output to peak ‘around 2030’ and Obama set a goal for the United States to cut its own emissions of greenhouse gases by 26-28 percent from 2005 levels by 2025 even though facing scepticism as well as outright denial about climate change in the US Congress. As data show that China and the US together produce around 45 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide. This move, if successfully carried out, will be an effective instrument in reducing harmful emissions after 2020, said experts.
International bodies and green campaigners have appreciated the move and are hopeful for the future. According to reports, implementing the plan will be difficult as most of the US Republican Senators and Congressmen consider this as an unrealistic plan and consider it an unfair burden on the successors of Obama. They think it may cause higher utility rates and far fewer jobs.
While the plan to reduce greenhouse emissions is a good one, implementing it will be a daunting task considering the US and China’s manufacturing output and labour industry. In the event of failure to implement the US-China agreement the age-old debate over the effectiveness of nuclear and alternative methods of power generation will be brought to the table again. As observers, and sometimes victims, of the actions of the environmentally unfriendly first world nations, we can only hope that both the US and China know what they are up against and have a clear idea of how to make this plan prove effective. If they do, the world will be looking at a brighter future indeed.
