A new agreement between China and the United States to reduce carbon emissions will send strong signals to the global community, according to a Wesleyan professor who has studied climate change for the Obama administration.
Under the new agreement, President Obama said the U.S. will reduce carbon emissions 26 to 28 percent by 2025. China, which in the past has been reluctant to box itself in on climate change, will aim for its carbon emissions to peak by 2030 or earlier.
The country will also increase its share of renewable energy to 20 percent by that year.
"In the vernacular of my family, the two biggest emitters have picked up the umbrella and said, 'This is the direction we're going, do ya'llwanna come?'" said Gary Yohe, who was the former Vice Chair of Obama's National Climate Assessment Committee.
Yohe said the agreement will send an important message in advance of next year's climate change conference hosted by the United Nations in Paris. That meeting will aim to produce, for the first time ever, a universal agreement on climate from all nations in the world. "I'm not saying that the Chinese and the Americans will sign on to an international treaty, but they have committed themselves bilaterally to this," Yohe said. "The world has been waiting for this to happen and I expect there will be negotiations bilaterally with India, with Brazil, with Indonesia, with all sorts of places."
While Yohe said the U.S.-China agreement is "a game changer," he added it will still be difficult for the United States to sign any global international agreements to reduce emissions. That's because the Senate would have to approve the move, a tough sell following the midterm Republican takeover.
