China and India Join Forces on Climate

Posted on Oct 26, 2009

Flickr / Addictive Picasso

The Middle Kingdom is not immune to pollution. China’s capital city, choked in smog, is a constant reminder of the downside of rapid development.

China and India, which together represent well over a third of the world’s population, will be negotiating in concert at the upcoming climate summit in Copenhagen. The two booming economies produce most of the developing world’s CO2, but they’ve also made big commitments—China especially—to greening things up.

The new power couple inked a five-year deal last week to ensure that they’re on the same page at the negotiating table.

China and India have similar agendas anyway, but this move will strengthen the position of the two, and other developing nations, at Copenhagen.

Might this also represent a new era of cooperation between the two biggest countries in the world?  —PZS

Christian Science Monitor:

First, it binds the two largest CO2 emitters in the developing world to a common stance at upcoming international negotiations on climate change in Copenhagen, firming up the coalition of poor countries that will square off against industrialized nations.

The five-year pact also points the way toward joint efforts to cut growth in CO2 emissions that the two Asian giants have pledged to make, while resisting fixed targets for such emissions reductions.
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