Naomi Klein Excited About China’s Pledges Under China-US Climate Change Pact

Posted by on Nov 27, 2014 in Blog | 0 comments

Known for her firebrand critiques of capitalism in her previous works, Naomi Klein’s new book treads similar radical ground in the debate on climate change.  In a recent National Geographic interview, Ms Klein shares her views on This Changes Everything.  Of particular interest to this blog is her thoughts on the China-US climate change deal.  While down on the US side of the bargain, she remains very enthusiastic about China’s commitments viz. renewable energy output.  (However, this author is not persuaded by her position against shipping bitumen out of Alberta tar sands, either via the Keystone XL pipeline southward to the US or westward through the Northern Gateway pipeline proposal to the west coast and onward to Asian markets, specially China.)

 

There’s a new round of climate talks scheduled next year in Paris. How big a setback is the Republican victory in the midterm elections? Conversely, how important is the agreement on emissions between the U.S. and China that’s just been announced?

I think it remains to be seen how much the Republican victory is a setback. It also depends how important a climate legacy is to Obama. And whether the climate movement that came out with such enthusiasm in September can keep up the pressure on Obama. He has the power to say no to Keystone and protect the EPA from political meddling. It’s just a question of whether he wants to—especially in the face of Senator [James] Inhofe occupying one of the most important environmental positions in the country. It can’t be left to a battle between Obama and his conscience. It has to be about counterpressure from this growing movement.

As to the deal with China, the emissions that the U.S. commits to in the China deal are completely inadequate from the perspective of what climate scientists are telling us we need to do if we want to take the two-degree target seriously. We need to be cutting emissions by 8 to 10 percent per year. What this deal promises is 2.8 percent per year by 2025. And that’s not good enough.

The part of the China deal I’m most excited about is to have 20 percent of their energy mix coming from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030 and potentially earlier. We’re already seeing huge investment in clean energy in the PRC. Now they’re talking about doubling their share.

The entire interview can be seen at: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/11/141126-keystone-pipeline-indigenous-canada-climate-change-ngbooktalk/