The Patriot Post® · This Just In: China Isn't Cutting Emissions
In the wake of last weekend’s UN global climate summit, it’s worth taking a few minutes to see what progress has been made toward meeting global climate goals. According to a study covered in The New York Times, there hasn’t been much. Shocking, we know.
The Times states that none of the big four emitters — China, the U.S., the European Union, and India — is on track to meet its pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions made during the Paris Agreement seven years ago.
Naturally, the Times places a lot of blame on the U.S., pointing out that “the United States is, by far, the largest historical emitter of greenhouse gases, and remains one of the largest when measured per capita.” The paper goes on to claim that “because of the country’s enormous historical role in emitting greenhouse gases … the U.S. government is expected by many others to play a leading role in both setting ambitious emissions reductions targets and helping smaller and poorer nations adapt to the destabilizing effects of the changing global climate.”
Nothing is said about how the U.S. has consistently led the world in voluntarily reducing emissions, even before the Paris Agreement was established. The greater role of fracking and natural gas in reducing those emissions is likewise skipped over, as is the Left’s continued refusal to see the wisdom of nuclear power as a means of clean, reliable energy.
The EU is given some praise for being alone among the big four in coming closest to meeting its Paris goals. However, that is likely to change. Europe is feeling the squeeze as Vladimir Putin has dramatically ratcheted back gas supplies in the wake of war-related sanctions. Germany, which turned its back on nuclear power, is now being forced to burn more coal as winter sets in, and other nations will likely follow suit. The continent’s leftists will surely miss the lesson to be learned here in not relying on Russia for their primary energy needs.
India relies on a carbon-heavy energy strategy, but the Times lets it slide because it has not been a big historical contributor to emissions. India’s prime minister chose to skip the climate summit, and that nation is not expected to meet its net-zero emissions target until later in the century. India is also predicted to surpass the EU in total emissions next year, and it will soon become the world’s most populous nation.
China is also given a break by the Times and by just about every Western politician, including President Joe Biden and America’s climate maven John Kerry. China is currently the world’s biggest polluter, accounting for almost a third of all human-caused greenhouse gases — more than the U.S., Europe, and Japan combined.
In the last two decades, China’s emissions have skyrocketed, and the country has paid only lip service to the Paris Agreement and other climate accords. The ChiComs have demonstrated no concern or interest in joining the rest of the world in protecting the environment.
Indeed, why should China be concerned? The ChiComs are never held to account in international climate accords, and they are not on the hook with Western nations to pay climate reparations to Third World countries as called for at last week’s COP27 summit.
If large countries like China and India, which together account for a third of the world’s population, can ignore their share of the responsibility for climate action, then how can we expect these efforts to be successful? And how long will we accept shouldering the burden for the rest of the world’s malfeasance?