By Paul Bledsoe and Ed Gresser
The recent reopening of diplomatic dialogue by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese leaders highlighted the enormous importance of climate change action by the world’s two largest greenhouse gas emitters. But it did not yield immediate progress on China’s huge annual carbon emissions.
In contrast, the U.S., European Union and their G7 allies are taking historic actions to reduce greenhouse emissions. America’s effort includes hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies for domestic private-sector investments in clean energy, intended to reduce emissions by 50% or more by 2030 and reach “net-zero” emissions before mid-century.
Action by the G7, however, isn’t nearly enough. Total global emissions continue to grow, setting another record last year. The reason is emissions growth from large middle-income countries. China produces nearly one-third of the world’s 36 billion tons of annual carbon dioxide emissions, more than all developed countries combined, while Russia, India, Brazil and Indonesia add 5.6 billion tons. Emissions from all these countries are still rising.
As emissions and global temperatures increase, hugely expensive and deadly climate impacts are multiplying, from last year’s floods in Pakistan to this year’s Canadian wildfires and many others in every region of the world. These are clear warnings of a future of far more devastating climate disasters unless global emissions begin falling very soon.
This story was originally published in The Messenger on July 3, 2023.
