China announced its plans for future cuts to greenhouse gas emissions on Wednesday, producing a scathing response from experts who said they were much too weak to stave off global catastrophe.

The world’s second-biggest economy is also the biggest source of carbon dioxide by far, and its decisions on how far and how fast to shift to a low-carbon model will determine whether the world can stay within relatively safe temperature bounds.

China’s plans are to cut emissions by between 7% and 10% of their peak by 2035 – a long way from the 30% cut that experts said was feasible and necessary.

Xi Jinping, the president of China, made the announcement at a summit of world leaders to discuss the climate crisis at the UN general assembly on Wednesday afternoon in New York.

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[–] 2 points 1 year ago*

Plus a little pollution.

  • Supposedly they were really affected by how bad the air was getting but their most available fossil fuel is coal
  • China needs huge growth in electricity, both to run manufacturing and to continue bringing a billion people up to developed world standards of living. But they don’t have much oil resources and don’t want to depend on outsiders
  • renewables and EVs are the future and they have a path to dominate those industries. Might as well go all in on new tech rather than try to compete with old tech incumbents
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