However, a recent analysis by the United Nations Environment Programme showed that the cuts in emissions that are currently planned by individual countries are collectively inconsistent with avoiding global warming of more than 2C degrees.
Countries are now seeking a new international agreement in Paris in 2015 to secure the greater action required to stay below the threshold for dangerous climate change, but little progress was made during the latest round of United Nations negotiations last month in Warsaw.
With the European Union currently dithering and unable to provide the leadership that it has previously shown on climate change, the stage has been set for the world’s two largest emitters, China and the United States, to set an example.
Despite the unwillingness of many in Congress to face up to climate change, the United States managed to reduce its overall greenhouse emissions by nearly 8% between 2007 and 2011, with carbon dioxide from energy use falling even further in the past two years.
But China is showing the greatest ambition. As its economy continues to expand, it is attempting to make a rapid transition to cleaner and more efficient growth.
China is investing very heavily in low-carbon energy, spending $10 billion on wind farms and almost $13 billion on nuclear power in 2012 alone. More than a fifth of its electricity was generated from sources other than fossil fuels last year.
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