Phooey on U.S.-China Climate Announcement, Says Friends of the Earth

While powers-that-be over the Union of
Concerned Scientists are hailing the Joint Announcement on Climate
Change issued by Presidents Obama and Xi as a breakthrough,
the fiercer folks at Friends of the Earth International are sending
around a press release that denounces the US-China climate pledges
as “just drop in the ocean.”And, of course, it’s mostly the fault
of the United States.

From the press release:

Commenting on new pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions
unveiled by the US and China today in Beijing, Dipti Bhatnagar from
Friends of the Earth International said:

“Today’s climate announcement by the US and China may be spun as
a landmark, but in reality the US pledges are just a drop in the
ocean. These figures are very far from being the sea of change we
urgently need from the US government.” …

US President Barack Obama said that the US will aim to reduce
its emissions levels 26-28% by 2025 (compared with 2005
levels).

“The cuts pledged by President Obama are nowhere near what the
US needs to cut if it was serious about preventing runaway climate
change. These US voluntary pledges are not legally binding and are
not based on science or equity,” said Sara Shaw, Friends of the
Earth International Climate Justice and Energy coordinator.

“This agreement deliberately ignores the issue of equity.
Industrialised nations, and first of all the world’s largest
historical polluter, the US, must urgently make the deepest
emission cuts and provide the bulk of the money if countries are to
share fairly the responsibility of preventing catastrophic climate
change,” she added.

While chastising America, the Friends of the Earth praise
China: 

“The good news is that China is taking the fight against climate
change ever more seriously and intends to peak its emissions in
next 15 years. We urge China and all nations to urgently switch
from emissions-causing dirty energy to community-based renewable
energy.”

The Friends of the Earth clearly recognizes that China will pay
no attention to their hectoring and certainly won’t hand over any
free money.