Meet the man playing the world like a fiddle

During an economic summit in China, the presidents of the United States and China pledged to reduce and limit their country's level of carbon dioxide emissions. This has set an important precedent, the largest economic powers in the world are willing to work together to prevent catastrophic climate change.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - "This is a very serious international commitment between two heavy hitters," said Li Shuo, a Greenpeace East Asia climate and coal policy researcher.

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The announcement came after months of negotiations between President Obama and President Xi Jinping, but some wonder if China's commitment is actually more than skin deep, and even if the pledge is genuine, how can China-which is heavily reliant on coal and fossil fuels-achieve them?

President Xi has stated that China will slow its rapid rise of carbon dioxide production so that it will reach a peak in 2030, and then either decline or remain steady.

He has promised that by then, about 20% of China's energy will be renewable.

However, analysts around the world have said that achieving these goals would require a massive and sustained effort by Beijing to stop the country's reliance on coal and fossil fuels, something that doesn't seem likely.

Many scientists have also criticized the plan, saying that 2030 is too late to wait for China to cut its greenhouse gas emissions, especially if the world wants to keep the temperature from rising 3.6 degrees above pre-industrial levels, a goal adopted by the international community during talks in Denmark in 2009.

So far, there has been no country that has done what is required to meet that goal. But China, in no small part due to its size and recent industrial development, is a key part of any program intended to slow or stop global warming.

The United States is also a key player, and during the November 12 meeting pledged to cut its emissions by 26% to 28% by 2025.

"Based on China's current coal consumption numbers, they can do much more," said Li, referring to President Jinping's pledge. They "should be the floor on which they work, rather than a ceiling."

Chinese cities boast some of the world's worst air pollution, and growing anger over this fact may be one reason for China's pledge. Coal is a large portion of the Chinese economy, but also a major contributor to the air pollution.

In October, Connie Hedegaard, then the European Union climate commissioner, said that if China slows its growing greenhouse gas emissions sooner than 2030, it would "be a very important gift from China tot he whole world."

China has not been idle, and has kept its scientists and analysts sifting through data in an attempt to pinpoint when the country's carbon emissions will peak and how large that peak will be. This includes looking at current growth in the economy and energy production sectors.

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Still, these projections have been varied, and the international community is trying to gauge whether Jinping's pledge is genuine, or if it is just a political power play to cozy up to the West and avoid criticism or sanctions.

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