Tuesday, December 6, 2011

China- The Climate Change Leader

Unbeknownst to many of us, South Africa is hosting the United Nations-led climate change talks. There was a surprise yesterday when China called for binding emission cuts. In addition, they have requested that $100 billion a year be set aside to to held poor countries impacted by climate change and a system be created for rich countries help poor ones with technology. Of course, there is still great skepticism here by the West. Many believe it is nothing more than a political stunt. However, if China is sincere here, this is a major step. At last major climate change summit, China pulled out of any commitments to cut green house gases. As a result, there was no green house gas emission deal in Copenhagen because the US was unwilling to commit to anything without China.

The big question here is what does China really want or why are they concerned now. Keep in mind that China has a population that exceeds a billion people with an increasing demand for resources. More importantly, China has seen the impact that a global crisis can have on China when the financial markets melted down and then there was the real nuclear melt down in Japan. In addition, it witnessed excessive flooding in Thailand and its own natural disasters. China has invested a lot of money in green technology; however, it is realizing that without a united efforts from all industrialized countries, its and the rest of the world's economic growth and future will be in jeopardy. The big question is what will the US do here. I am hoping that there is no role reversal here and the US walks away from any deal with China, just like China did to the US in Copenhagen. Of course, if things do not work out here, we can all jump on that Space Ark and go to Kepler 22b that was just discovered by NASA.



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