The US and China need to turn ongoing bilateral dialogue into immediate joint mitigation

Abstract

The United States of America and the People’s Republic of China are responsible for over 40% of the world’s CO₂ emissions annually and they will be able to effectively reduce global emissions if they fulfil their commitments jointly in climate change mitigation. Here we briefly summarize past climate collaborations between the two countries and compare their national climate policies. The major problems are the mutual distrust between the two countries and the priority of economic development over climate change mitigation within each of them. As atmospheric CO₂ levels are still increasing at an accelerating rate, it is essential for the largest two emitters to turn ongoing bilateral dialogue into prompt mitigation action and maintain long-term joint efforts in reducing emissions. We suggest that the two countries should recognize and take advantage of their differences in socioeconomic, political, and technological conditions. Furthermore, the two countries need to share their experiences and technologies for safely utilizing relatively clean energy resources, especially shale gas. The success in climate cooperation between the USA and China is critical to sustainable development around the world.

Keywords:

• G2
• CO₂ emissions
• global climate change
• mitigation
• international cooperation

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National Science and Technology Support Program (2013BAJ04B01 and 2012BAB18B02) and the Special Project on Remote Sensing Survey and Assessment of National Ecological Environment Change in Ten Years (2000–2010) (STSN-11-02).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health: [Grant Number 123-4567]; The Warren Foundation: [Grant Numbers 190914, 220914].