SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
US and China, World's Worst Polluters, Won't Discuss Climate Change at Summit
President Donald Trump once called climate change a hoax "created by the Chinese"
Apr 06, 2017
President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are meeting at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida Thursday and Friday to discuss North Korea and trade, but will refrain from discussing another extremely pressing issue: climate change.
China and the U.S. are the world's worst polluters, together producing nearly half of the planet's greenhouse gas emissions--and the leaders' failure to discuss the climate crisis comes as frightening signs show the planet is on the verge of disaster.
Environmental news site E&E News observes that the meeting marks an enormous sea change in U.S.-China relations on the issue:
The shift underscores the dramatic change in political temperature on climate change in Washington. President [Barack] Obama spent a significant part of his second term galvanizing international efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions--often in tandem with China. He pressed former President Hu Jintao as well as Xi to modify longtime Chinese resistance to curbing climate pollution and laid the groundwork for the world's two biggest emitters to jointly cut carbon emissions. The U.S.-China relationship became key to the ultimate shape of the 2015 Paris agreement, which both leaders signed.
"I think that is a lost opportunity if [the topic of climate change is] not raised," Barbara Finamore, founder of the Natural Resources Defense Council's China program, told The Independent. "For many years, this issue was one of the brighter spots of the U.S.-China relationship, and it helped to build dialogue."
But under the climate change-denying Trump administration, U.S. participation in international climate talks appears doubtful.
Indeed, Trump once went so far as to describe climate change as a hoax "invented by the Chinese":
And after Trump signed an executive order repealing critical Obama-era climate policies last month, politicians in China and other world leaders reaffirmed their commitment to international climate action--with or without the U.S.
In fact, since China's cities have been choked with toxic smog as a result of climate change, the resulting outcry has pushed Chinese leaders to take more urgent action to tackle the crisis and move away from fossil fuels. Already, the country's rapidly declining CO2 output shows it may reach its 2030 Paris target a decade early, according to a Greenpeace analysis cited by US News & World Report.
Trump appears happy to let China leave the U.S. in the dust when it comes to climate action and renewable energy.
Meanwhile, observers note that Trump's refusal to discuss climate change is a bit ironic given the location of the meeting: Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort is located in Palm Beach, Florida, which is already suffering from frequent flooding as result of rising seas.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are meeting at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida Thursday and Friday to discuss North Korea and trade, but will refrain from discussing another extremely pressing issue: climate change.
China and the U.S. are the world's worst polluters, together producing nearly half of the planet's greenhouse gas emissions--and the leaders' failure to discuss the climate crisis comes as frightening signs show the planet is on the verge of disaster.
Environmental news site E&E News observes that the meeting marks an enormous sea change in U.S.-China relations on the issue:
The shift underscores the dramatic change in political temperature on climate change in Washington. President [Barack] Obama spent a significant part of his second term galvanizing international efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions--often in tandem with China. He pressed former President Hu Jintao as well as Xi to modify longtime Chinese resistance to curbing climate pollution and laid the groundwork for the world's two biggest emitters to jointly cut carbon emissions. The U.S.-China relationship became key to the ultimate shape of the 2015 Paris agreement, which both leaders signed.
"I think that is a lost opportunity if [the topic of climate change is] not raised," Barbara Finamore, founder of the Natural Resources Defense Council's China program, told The Independent. "For many years, this issue was one of the brighter spots of the U.S.-China relationship, and it helped to build dialogue."
But under the climate change-denying Trump administration, U.S. participation in international climate talks appears doubtful.
Indeed, Trump once went so far as to describe climate change as a hoax "invented by the Chinese":
And after Trump signed an executive order repealing critical Obama-era climate policies last month, politicians in China and other world leaders reaffirmed their commitment to international climate action--with or without the U.S.
In fact, since China's cities have been choked with toxic smog as a result of climate change, the resulting outcry has pushed Chinese leaders to take more urgent action to tackle the crisis and move away from fossil fuels. Already, the country's rapidly declining CO2 output shows it may reach its 2030 Paris target a decade early, according to a Greenpeace analysis cited by US News & World Report.
Trump appears happy to let China leave the U.S. in the dust when it comes to climate action and renewable energy.
Meanwhile, observers note that Trump's refusal to discuss climate change is a bit ironic given the location of the meeting: Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort is located in Palm Beach, Florida, which is already suffering from frequent flooding as result of rising seas.
President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are meeting at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida Thursday and Friday to discuss North Korea and trade, but will refrain from discussing another extremely pressing issue: climate change.
China and the U.S. are the world's worst polluters, together producing nearly half of the planet's greenhouse gas emissions--and the leaders' failure to discuss the climate crisis comes as frightening signs show the planet is on the verge of disaster.
Environmental news site E&E News observes that the meeting marks an enormous sea change in U.S.-China relations on the issue:
The shift underscores the dramatic change in political temperature on climate change in Washington. President [Barack] Obama spent a significant part of his second term galvanizing international efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions--often in tandem with China. He pressed former President Hu Jintao as well as Xi to modify longtime Chinese resistance to curbing climate pollution and laid the groundwork for the world's two biggest emitters to jointly cut carbon emissions. The U.S.-China relationship became key to the ultimate shape of the 2015 Paris agreement, which both leaders signed.
"I think that is a lost opportunity if [the topic of climate change is] not raised," Barbara Finamore, founder of the Natural Resources Defense Council's China program, told The Independent. "For many years, this issue was one of the brighter spots of the U.S.-China relationship, and it helped to build dialogue."
But under the climate change-denying Trump administration, U.S. participation in international climate talks appears doubtful.
Indeed, Trump once went so far as to describe climate change as a hoax "invented by the Chinese":
And after Trump signed an executive order repealing critical Obama-era climate policies last month, politicians in China and other world leaders reaffirmed their commitment to international climate action--with or without the U.S.
In fact, since China's cities have been choked with toxic smog as a result of climate change, the resulting outcry has pushed Chinese leaders to take more urgent action to tackle the crisis and move away from fossil fuels. Already, the country's rapidly declining CO2 output shows it may reach its 2030 Paris target a decade early, according to a Greenpeace analysis cited by US News & World Report.
Trump appears happy to let China leave the U.S. in the dust when it comes to climate action and renewable energy.
Meanwhile, observers note that Trump's refusal to discuss climate change is a bit ironic given the location of the meeting: Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort is located in Palm Beach, Florida, which is already suffering from frequent flooding as result of rising seas.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.