The U.S. and China, which together account for more than a third of all of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, announced a sweeping agreement Wednesday to cut emissions drastically by 2030, a major achievement that was worked out during President Barack Obama's attendance at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Beijing.
The White House said the U.S. would seek by 2025 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 26 percent to 28 percent below a baseline level from 2005. At the same time, China said it intended to begin reversing the rise of its carbon emissions by 2030 and to increase the share of nuclear, wind, solar and other zero-emission power to 20 percent of all of its energy consumption by that year.
'This is a major milestone,' Obama said at a joint news conference with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Obama said he hoped the deal - the first time China has ever agreed to 'peak' its carbon emissions - would jump-start negotiations with an eye toward reaching a worldwide climate agreement in Paris next year.
'We have a special responsibility to lead the world effort to combat global climate change,' Obama said. 'We hope to encourage all major economies to be ambitious.'
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon congratulated Obama and Xi for 'an important contribution to the new climate agreement to be reached in Paris next year.'
'The joint announcement signals that the transition towards a low-carbon, climate-resilient future is accelerating,' Ban said.
To an extent, the two world superpowers are playing catchup. The European Union earlier this year pledged to cut its emissions by at least 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030.
On the U.S. side, the agreement would double the pace of carbon reduction from 1.2 percent a year through 2020 to 2.3 percent to 2.8 percent a year afterward. The White House said that ambitious target could be met under existing laws and that it would generate as much as $93 billion in 'net benefits' from improved public health and reduced pollution.
As for China, Beijing's targets represent 'a serious commitment to finally shift the Chinese economy away from coal,' said Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress, a nonprofit public policy institute.
'The United States and China have just turned the international climate change negotiation on its head,' Tandeen said.
'The biggest carbon polluter on our planet, China, has agreed to cut back on dangerous emissions,' said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California, chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works Committee.
'Now we should make sure all countries do their part, because this is a threat to the people that we all represent,' she said.
IN-DEPTH
First published November 11 2014, 7:58 PM
M. Alex Johnson is a senior writer for NBC News covering general news, with an emphasis on explanatory journalism and data analysis. Johnson joined NBCNews.com in January 2000 from The Washington Post, where he was news editor of washingtonpost.com and night city editor of the print edition. He has also worked at the Knight-Ridder Washington bureau, Congressional Quarterly and The Charlotte Observer, where he was part of a team that won the 1987 Pulitzer Gold Medal for Public Service. He is a member of the National Press Club, Investigative Reporters and Editors and the Online News Association.
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