U.S., China Reach Landmark Climate Deal

The United States and China, two of the world's worst greenhouse gas emitters, agreed to a climate deal that calls for drastic improvements to both countries' pollution habits in coming years.

Under the deal, the U.S. will cut emissions by 26 to 28 percent, compared to 2005's levels, by 2025. The U.S.'s new goals essentially speed up the pace of current emissions goals -- to cut emissions by 17 percent by 2020 -- starting in 2020. Meanwhile, China's goals were much less specific, simply calling for a date for the country's emissions to reach peak levels. That date was set at 2030, with the idea that the date would stimulate China to agree to additional measures to curb emissions in future years in order to obtain that goal.

The deal comes on the heels of international climate talks in Lima, Peru, this December, which will set the stage for a potential new international climate agreement in Paris in 2015.

Yet it wasn't clear how either the U.S. or China would meet their goals, nor whether China's growing emissions until 2030 would negate any reductions in the U.S.

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Still, the dual announcements from President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping, unveiled Wednesday in Beijing, came as a shock to environmentalists who had pined for such action but suspected China's reluctance and Obama's weakened political standing might interfere. In Washington, Republicans were equally taken aback, accusing Obama of dumping an unrealistic obligation on the next president.

In fact, the deal had been hashed out behind the scenes for months. U.S. officials said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry floated the idea during a visit to China in February, and Obama followed up by writing Xi in the spring to suggest that the world's two largest economies join forces.

Obama pressed the issue again during a meeting with China's vice premier on the sidelines of a U.N. climate summit in September, and the two countries finally sealed the deal late Tuesday - just in time to announce it in grand fashion at the Great Hall of the People as Obama's trip to China was coming to an end.

"This is a major milestone in the U.S.-China relationship," Obama said, with Xi at his side. "It shows what's possible when we work together on an urgent global challenge."

Although China's goal still allows the country to keep pumping more carbon dioxide for the next 16 years, it marked an unprecedented step for Beijing, which has been reluctant to be boxed in on climate by the global community.

"This is, in my view, the most important bilateral climate announcement ever," said David Sandalow, a former top environmental official at the White House and the Energy Department.

World leaders who have been pressing for a global climate treaty heralded the deal, with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urging all other nations to follow Obama's and Xi's lead by announcing their own emissions targets by early next year. Former Vice President Al Gore, a prominent environmentalist, called the Chinese move "a signal of groundbreaking progress from the world's largest polluter."

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Scientists have pointed to the budding climate treaty, intended to be finalized next year in Paris, as a final opportunity to get emissions in check before the worst effects of climate change become unavoidable. Each nation is supposed to pledge to cut emissions by a specific amount, although negotiators are still haggling over whether those contributions should be binding.

Last month, the European Union said it would cut its emissions 40 percent by 2030, compared to 1990 levels. Taken together, the U.S, China and the EU account for more than half of global emissions, and there were already indications that the world's next-biggest emitter - India - might be feeling the pressure. "The international community will now expect India to make some firm commitments," said Jairam Ramesh, the former head of India's Environment Ministry.

Developing nations like India and China have long balked at being on the hook for climate change as much as wealthy nations like the U.S. that have been polluting for much longer. But China analysts said Beijing's willingness to cap its future emissions and to put Xi front and center signaled a significant turnaround.

For Obama, the fight against climate change has become a central facet of the legacy he hopes to leave. Facing opposition in Congress, Obama has sought to bypass lawmakers through emissions regulations on power plants and vehicles. Although his aides say his audacity on those fronts has boosted his credibility on climate change overseas, it's also become a sore point in Obama's relations with Republicans, who were sure to launch a renewed effort to block him.

"This unrealistic plan that the president would dump on his successor would ensure higher utility rates and far fewer jobs," said Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who is set to become the majority leader early next year.

In China, the smog-laden skies over its cities have become a source of embarrassment that the government has sought to obscure. Ahead of the economic summit that brought Obama and other leaders to Beijing, authorities shut down factories, banned wood fires and kept half the cars off the road.

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