Original article from: BBC News
China will aim to hit peak emissions before 2030 and for carbon neutrality by 2060, President Xi Jinping has announced.
Mr Xi outlined the steps when speaking via videolink to the UN General Assembly in New York.
The announcement is being seen as a significant step in the fight against climate change.
China is the world’s biggest source of carbon dioxide, responsible for around 28% of global emissions.
LEFT VIEWPOINTS
China aims for “carbon neutrality by 2060”. Is this enough?
- Regarding climate change, China is making significant strides and is leading the US.
- Per capita, China emits much less than the United States. Additionally, China’s emissions are largely due to its manufacturing of products. Those products are bought throughout the world.
- To understand how and why humans are causing climate change, you have to understand two things: The Greenhouse Effect, and The Carbon Cycle.
China is far from a perfect country. But regarding climate change, China is making significant strides. China is the world’s largest CO2 emitter. However, that’s because China has such a large population — about 5 times larger than the United States. Per capita, China emits much less than the United States. Additionally, China’s emissions are largely due to its manufacturing of products. Those products are bought throughout the world. The upshot is that China cannot be solely blamed for manufacturing products that are demanded elsewhere.
To understand how and why humans are causing climate change, you have to understand two things:
- The carbon cycle
- The greenhouse effect
The Carbon Cycle
The amount of carbon on the planet is constant. It doesn’t change. However, it does move from one place to another. For example, it can move from the atmosphere to a tree via photosynthesis. It can also move from deep inside the Earth’s crust to the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels. By burning fossil fuels, we aren’t adding more carbon to the carbon cycle; we change where carbon in the carbon cycle is located.
The Greenhouse Effect
CO2 is a trace gas. It only comprises about 0.04% of the atmosphere. Some skeptics believe that at such low concentrations that it couldn’t influence climate change. This is why they are wrong: Most (99%) of our atmosphere is Nitrogen and Oxygen. Nitrogen and Oxygen do not trap heat because they are not greenhouse gases. This means greenhouse gases only exist in the remaining 1% of the atmosphere. The upshot is that all greenhouse gases are all low-concentration trace gases, which is why human CO2 emission impact them so much. If greenhouse gases were as abundant as Oxygen and Nitrogen, then our emissions wouldn’t matter.