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| Obama Presses Chinese on Global Warming | Obama Presses Chinese on Global Warming |
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| UNITED NATIONS — President Obama, emboldened by his use of executive powers to fight climate change at home, challenged China on Tuesday to make the same effort to reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions and join a worldwide campaign to curb global warming. | UNITED NATIONS — President Obama, emboldened by his use of executive powers to fight climate change at home, challenged China on Tuesday to make the same effort to reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions and join a worldwide campaign to curb global warming. |
| Declaring that the United States and China — the world’s two largest economies and largest polluters — bear a “special responsibility to lead,” Mr. Obama said, “That’s what big nations have to do.” | Declaring that the United States and China — the world’s two largest economies and largest polluters — bear a “special responsibility to lead,” Mr. Obama said, “That’s what big nations have to do.” |
| The president’s remarks at the United Nations Climate Summit, delivered in a packed chamber of the General Assembly, were broadly aimed at marshaling more than 100 world leaders to confront climate change. But his words were directly focused on putting the onus on China, an essential partner of the United States if a global climate treaty is to be negotiated by 2015. | The president’s remarks at the United Nations Climate Summit, delivered in a packed chamber of the General Assembly, were broadly aimed at marshaling more than 100 world leaders to confront climate change. But his words were directly focused on putting the onus on China, an essential partner of the United States if a global climate treaty is to be negotiated by 2015. |
| Unless Beijing and Washington can resolve their differences, climate experts said, few other countries will agree to the treaty and it will most likely founder. | Unless Beijing and Washington can resolve their differences, climate experts said, few other countries will agree to the treaty and it will most likely founder. |
| Mr. Obama made it clear that after taking the political risks in June of proposing a far-reaching Environmental Protection Agency regulation to force American power plants to curb their carbon emissions, he now expected the Chinese to do likewise. | Mr. Obama made it clear that after taking the political risks in June of proposing a far-reaching Environmental Protection Agency regulation to force American power plants to curb their carbon emissions, he now expected the Chinese to do likewise. |
| There were indications that China might be ready with its own plan, although many experts say they will be skeptical until Chinese officials reveal the details. The decision of President Xi Jinping of China to skip the summit meeting also sent a less-than-enthusiastic message. | There were indications that China might be ready with its own plan, although many experts say they will be skeptical until Chinese officials reveal the details. The decision of President Xi Jinping of China to skip the summit meeting also sent a less-than-enthusiastic message. |
| But a senior Chinese official sent in Mr. Xi’s place said his country would try to reach a peak level of carbon emissions “as early as possible.” That suggested that the Chinese government, struggling with air pollution so extreme that it has threatened economic growth, regularly kept millions of children indoors and ignited street protests, was determined to show faster progress in curbing emissions. | But a senior Chinese official sent in Mr. Xi’s place said his country would try to reach a peak level of carbon emissions “as early as possible.” That suggested that the Chinese government, struggling with air pollution so extreme that it has threatened economic growth, regularly kept millions of children indoors and ignited street protests, was determined to show faster progress in curbing emissions. |
| “As a responsible major developing country, China will make an even greater effort to address climate change and take on international responsibilities that are commensurate with our national conditions,” said the official, Vice Prime Minister Zhang Gaoli, who addressed the chamber after Mr. Obama. | “As a responsible major developing country, China will make an even greater effort to address climate change and take on international responsibilities that are commensurate with our national conditions,” said the official, Vice Prime Minister Zhang Gaoli, who addressed the chamber after Mr. Obama. |
| The president and Mr. Zhang met briefly at the summit meeting on Tuesday, before Mr. Obama’s speech. In his remarks, Mr. Obama said he had pressed Mr. Zhang on the urgency for both countries to take the lead, and noted that he and the Chinese president had already reached an accord to cut the use of hydrofluorocarbons, a potent category of greenhouse gases. | The president and Mr. Zhang met briefly at the summit meeting on Tuesday, before Mr. Obama’s speech. In his remarks, Mr. Obama said he had pressed Mr. Zhang on the urgency for both countries to take the lead, and noted that he and the Chinese president had already reached an accord to cut the use of hydrofluorocarbons, a potent category of greenhouse gases. |
| The United States, he said, would meet a pledge to reduce its carbon emissions by 17 percent, from 2005 levels, by 2020 — a goal that is in large part expected to be met through the proposed E.P.A. regulation. Now, Mr. Obama said, the United States is preparing ambitious new targets to cut emissions further by 2050, with specifics to be made public ahead of a climate summit meeting in Paris in 2015. Other nations are expected to submit their own plans. | The United States, he said, would meet a pledge to reduce its carbon emissions by 17 percent, from 2005 levels, by 2020 — a goal that is in large part expected to be met through the proposed E.P.A. regulation. Now, Mr. Obama said, the United States is preparing ambitious new targets to cut emissions further by 2050, with specifics to be made public ahead of a climate summit meeting in Paris in 2015. Other nations are expected to submit their own plans. |
| With its surging use of coal, China has overtaken the United States as the world’s largest greenhouse gas polluter. But in the past year, as thousands of Chinese have protested the reliance on coal and its contribution to some of the world’s dirtiest air, Chinese authorities have signaled that they intend to adopt policies to reduce the use of coal. | With its surging use of coal, China has overtaken the United States as the world’s largest greenhouse gas polluter. But in the past year, as thousands of Chinese have protested the reliance on coal and its contribution to some of the world’s dirtiest air, Chinese authorities have signaled that they intend to adopt policies to reduce the use of coal. |
| “We’ve been working hard on this plan, looking at what kind of changes we will make to industry,” Li Junfeng, director general of China’s National Center for Climate Change Strategy, said in an interview. | “We’ve been working hard on this plan, looking at what kind of changes we will make to industry,” Li Junfeng, director general of China’s National Center for Climate Change Strategy, said in an interview. |
| Mr. Li said that his center had prepared “multiple choice” options for a proposed climate plan, and that Beijing would choose one to put forth based on the perceived stringency of the American plan for emissions cuts by 2050. | Mr. Li said that his center had prepared “multiple choice” options for a proposed climate plan, and that Beijing would choose one to put forth based on the perceived stringency of the American plan for emissions cuts by 2050. |
| In recent years, the Chinese government has sent other signals about addressing carbon pollution, some of them encouraging to environmental experts. It has created seven regional cap-and-trade plans aimed at cutting carbon pollution from coal plants, and in August, a Chinese government official suggested that China was exploring the possibility of a national cap-and-trade plan. | In recent years, the Chinese government has sent other signals about addressing carbon pollution, some of them encouraging to environmental experts. It has created seven regional cap-and-trade plans aimed at cutting carbon pollution from coal plants, and in August, a Chinese government official suggested that China was exploring the possibility of a national cap-and-trade plan. |
| “Five years ago, it was almost unimaginable to discuss China putting a cap on carbon, but now that is happening,” said Lo Sze Ping, chief executive officer of the World Wildlife Fund’s office in Beijing. “Chinese leaders have seen that it is imperative to move toward a low-carbon economy.” | “Five years ago, it was almost unimaginable to discuss China putting a cap on carbon, but now that is happening,” said Lo Sze Ping, chief executive officer of the World Wildlife Fund’s office in Beijing. “Chinese leaders have seen that it is imperative to move toward a low-carbon economy.” |
| The modest Chinese steps are ahead of some other major polluters who are unlikely to submit emission-cuts plans ahead of 2015. President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia remains an outspoken skeptic of climate-change science, and voters in Australia recently repealed a national carbon tax. India, the world’s third-largest carbon polluter, has so far resisted outside pressure to cut its coal use, although under its new prime minister, Narendra Modi, it has begun researching a plan. Without new climate policies, India is projected to surge ahead of the United States and China in carbon emissions in coming years. | |
| For Mr. Obama, the climate summit was the first time he had spoken to such a gathering, having enacted a significant carbon cutting plan. In urging other countries to take steps, Mr. Obama pointed to his E.P.A. regulation to cut carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants, the No. 1 source of greenhouse gases. | For Mr. Obama, the climate summit was the first time he had spoken to such a gathering, having enacted a significant carbon cutting plan. In urging other countries to take steps, Mr. Obama pointed to his E.P.A. regulation to cut carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants, the No. 1 source of greenhouse gases. |
| “There should be no question that the United States of America is stepping up to the plate,” he said. “We recognize our role in creating this problem; we embrace our responsibility to combat it.” | “There should be no question that the United States of America is stepping up to the plate,” he said. “We recognize our role in creating this problem; we embrace our responsibility to combat it.” |
| Mr. Obama, who sought to erase years of skepticism abroad about American resolve to tackle climate change, reminded his audience that his action carried a political cost: At home, Republicans and the coal industry deride the new rules as a “war on coal” and an energy tax. | Mr. Obama, who sought to erase years of skepticism abroad about American resolve to tackle climate change, reminded his audience that his action carried a political cost: At home, Republicans and the coal industry deride the new rules as a “war on coal” and an energy tax. |
| Reciting a litany of record-setting temperatures and natural disasters, Mr. Obama warned that the climate was changing faster than the world’s response to it. Recent efforts to curb the problem, he said, would fail without more cooperation from countries around the world. | Reciting a litany of record-setting temperatures and natural disasters, Mr. Obama warned that the climate was changing faster than the world’s response to it. Recent efforts to curb the problem, he said, would fail without more cooperation from countries around the world. |
| “We can only succeed in combating climate change if we are joined in this effort by every nation, developed and developing alike,” the president said. “Nobody gets a pass.” | “We can only succeed in combating climate change if we are joined in this effort by every nation, developed and developing alike,” the president said. “Nobody gets a pass.” |
| If strong carbon-cutting policies are not enacted quickly, scientists warn, the current trajectory of fossil fuel emissions will raise the temperature of the global atmosphere by two degrees Celsius, a tipping point that is projected to lead to a future of rising sea levels, extreme droughts and food shortages, floods and more powerful storms. | If strong carbon-cutting policies are not enacted quickly, scientists warn, the current trajectory of fossil fuel emissions will raise the temperature of the global atmosphere by two degrees Celsius, a tipping point that is projected to lead to a future of rising sea levels, extreme droughts and food shortages, floods and more powerful storms. |
| To reach a deal by the end of 2015, United Nations officials said, countries must unveil concrete plans by April 1 that are to specify how they will cut their energy-related fossil fuel pollution after 2020. To be taken seriously, the plans must show how the governments will enforce disruptive shifts to their economies, transitioning away from the fossil fuels that have powered their homes and vehicles for a century. | To reach a deal by the end of 2015, United Nations officials said, countries must unveil concrete plans by April 1 that are to specify how they will cut their energy-related fossil fuel pollution after 2020. To be taken seriously, the plans must show how the governments will enforce disruptive shifts to their economies, transitioning away from the fossil fuels that have powered their homes and vehicles for a century. |
| Scientists said they were encouraged by the prospect of new climate policies, but warned that for now, the efforts under discussion would not be enough to prevent the first ravages of climate change. | Scientists said they were encouraged by the prospect of new climate policies, but warned that for now, the efforts under discussion would not be enough to prevent the first ravages of climate change. |
| “In the world that we live in, this is probably the best we can do right now,” said Michael Oppenheimer, a climate scientist at Princeton University. “It’s worth the effort. But it’s not going to solve the problem. It’s not going to get us to two degrees. It‘s not even enough to stave off three degrees.” | “In the world that we live in, this is probably the best we can do right now,” said Michael Oppenheimer, a climate scientist at Princeton University. “It’s worth the effort. But it’s not going to solve the problem. It’s not going to get us to two degrees. It‘s not even enough to stave off three degrees.” |