China Just Moved Closer to Becoming the World’s Climate Leader

 

원본 기사 : http://time.com/5069912/china-climate-change-trump/

 

China unveiled plans Tuesday to create the world’s largest carbon market as the country continues

to position itself as the world leader in the fight against climate change.

 

The emissions trading scheme, which the government plans to enforce in China’s power sector around 2019,

will play a key role in helping the country to achieve its goal of beginning to reduce its emissions by 2030.

The move sends a concrete signal to leaders across the globe that China is committed

to addressing climate change at a moment when the U.S. is stepping back on the issue.

 

“The anticipation of this announcement, which has been building for months,

is a reflection of how crucial China is,” says Nat Keohane, head of the Global Climate program

at the Environmental Defense Fund. “This is the Mount Everest of climate policy.”

 

China first said in 2015 that it would create a national carbon market ahead of the negotiations

that ultimately yielded the Paris Agreement on climate change.

That announcement—made by Chinese President Xi Jinping as he stood beside then-President Obama

—was a signal that the world’s two largest economies and polluters were unified in their commitment

to addressing the issue. Climate policy experts say those pledges helped seal the global deal targeting

greenhouse gas emissions.

But since then the U.S. has retreated from its leadership role on the the issue under President Trump,

who has promised to withdraw the country from the Paris Agreement and sought to undo Obama-era

climate regulations at every opportunity. On Monday, the White House suggested that global policies aimed at

tacking climate change were part of an “anti-growth energy agenda” in an unveiling of

its National Security Strategy. Instead, Trump plans to promote U.S. “energy dominance” with a focus on promoting

American fossil fuels. That reversal has left China and a handful of countries in Western Europe seeking

to fill the gap, and China’s new carbon market will play a central role. The nation’s power sector generates

nearly 40% of its carbon dioxide emissions, and the effort to curb emissions will eventually expand

to include the chemicals, building materials and aviation industries, among others.

The program creates a financial incentive for natural gas and coal-fired power plants to reduce their emissions

by requiring plants to hold permits for those emissions. Plants that exceed the standard can sell their excess permits.

 

Along with other policies, the carbon market will help China cap its emissions by 2030,

with some estimates suggesting it could do so before 2025. Meeting that goal would allow the country

to strengthen its targets in the ongoing United Nations climate change negotiations,

which climate policy experts say would increase the chances that the world hits the targets

set in the Paris Agreement.

 

Unlike the Trump Administration, Chinese leaders—along with many in Europe—

see climate change as an opportunity to drive growth. By sheer virtue of its size, China’s move away from coal

will cripple the global industry and help push the world toward cleaner energy sources. When that happens,

China is prepared to supply the world with clean energy technology like solar panels and lithium ion batteries

that it manufactures domestically thanks to billions in investment from the national government.

“They’re stepping up to make it clear that they’re not going to wait for the United States,”

former Secretary of State John Kerry told TIME earlier this year.

“There’s no grass growing under the feet of the Chinese.”

 

 

중국이 미국의 파리기후협정 탈퇴를 기점으로 기후변화 분야의 리더로 앞서 나가려고 하는 내용의 기사입니다.

중국의 시진핑 주석은 2030년까지 목표하고 있는 감축 목표치를 ETS를 충분히 활용하여 달성함을

공식적으로 발표했습니다.

 

최근 미국의 트럼프 대통령의 탄소방출이 기후변화에 영향을 준다는 근거가 충분하지 않고

산업발전에 방해를 한다는 의견을 피력한것과는 매우 대조적인 중국의 모습입니다.

 

또한 중국은 석탄사용을 줄이고, 그 부분을 태양열에너지와 같은 청정에너지 기술을 점점 더욱 도입을

할 것임을 밝혔습니다. G2라고 평가받고 있는 미국과 중국의 이러한 기후변화에 대한 대조적인 입장이

향후 각국에 어떤 결과를 가지고 올지 궁금해집니다.

 

 

사진 및 기사 출처 : Worland, J. (2017, December 19). China Just Moved Closer to Becoming the World’s Climate Leader. Time. Retrieved from http://time.com/5069912/china-climate-change-trump/