China recently announced that it will cap its CO2 emissions beginning in 2016. While this is a great step forward by the world’s worst carbon polluter, many believe China’s new five-year plan won’t actually stop the country’s CO2 emissions from increasing.
Instead of stopping CO2 emissions, China is looking to essentially stop emissions from getting completely out of control. Currently, China’s CO2 emissions are at around 7 billion to 9.5 billion tons but are expected to reach 11 billions tons by 2030, even with the new plan in place.
Michael Grubb, a professor of international energy and climate policy at University College London, told Reuters that “the Chinese announcement marks potentially the most important turning point in the global scene on climate change for a decade.”
