The Obama Administration has submitted a proposal to the United Nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the United States by 26 to 28 percent by 2025. This proposal was submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in advance of the global climate change negotiations to be held in Paris in late 2015.
The pledge is a formalization of the carbon cutting proposal which was negotiated by President Obama last year with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
At the United Nations Climate Summit held in September 2014 in New York, other significant initiatives or goals were announced: President Obama signed an executive order directing all federal agencies to begin factoring climate change initiatives into all international development programs or investments.
Other countries pledging to cut greenhouse gas emissions at the summit in New York included the following:
- European Union – pledged to cut emissions by 40% by 2030.
- United Kingdom – pledged to cut emissions by 80% by 2050.
- Belgium – pledged to cut emissions by 85% by 2050.
- Indonesia – pledged to cut emissions by 20% by 2020.
- Mexico – pledged that by 2018, one-third of its electricity will be generated from renewable sources.
Also, India pledged to double the amount of energy the country gets from wind and solar power by 2020. China announced a plan to cut carbon intensity by 45% by 2020. Several countries pledged to contribute to the Green Climate Fund or to finance climate change programs.
In addition, in December 2014, officials and diplomats from 190 countries gathered in Lima, Peru for a series of meetings which were intended to lay the groundwork for an international climate control pact to be signed in Paris.
Climate change advocates are hopeful that these developments will let to a global agreement in Paris. In 2009, when international negotiations over climate change took place in Copenhagen, the attending countries were unable to settle on a treaty limiting global greenhouse gas emissions.
For more information, stay tuned to this blog, or contact Toni Ellington at (504) 599-8500.
No comments:
Post a Comment