China Playing Chess on Climate Change

Recently, President Xi Jinping of China said his country would “strictly limit increasing coal consumption” in the next five years and phase it down in the following five years.  He also repeated his pledge from last year to draw down carbon emissions to net zero by 2060.  There is no doubt that climate change, no matter which side of the fence you are on, is a global issue.  Our efforts could prove meaningless if we do not secure commitments from other countries and as it stands today, China emits more emissions than any other country in the world.  So we should listen to what China is saying, or better yet, we should watch what China is doing!

Is President Xi playing chess with the Biden Administration?  Making a few moves to set up the board in his favor?  Xi also recently stated to Biden that the industrialized countries of the West had a historic responsibility to act faster to reduce emissions because in the past, not today, we emitted the most emissions.  Are Xi’s comments only setting up the board so the United States cuts emissions while China continues to build more coal plants with a complete disregard to climate change?  There is a history of China being “less than honest” to say the least.  Hopefully, we will continue to protect our Nations economy while also improving our carbon footprint.  If we are committing to huge carbon reductions by 2030 and China makes similar commitments by the year 2060, we may be in for a less than favorable end game.