China tells rich nations to cut emissions by 40 percent

China tells rich nations to cut emissions by 40 percent The Valero St. Charles oil refinery is seen during a tour of the refinery in Norco, Louisiana in this August 15, 2008 file photo.

[MattJ]

WHo is going to pay any attention to what China says as long as they are bringing another coal-fired plant on line each week?

[Brian_G]

They just want us to wreck our economy.

[Earthling]

Poor Matty, he must live on another planet.

[Brian_G]

Matteus, even China's emissions shrink because of this worldwide recession:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2965b43c-4632-11de-...

[MattJ]

Brian_G wrote:

Matteus, even China's emissions shrink because of this worldwide recession:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2965b43c-4632-11de-...

You miss the point. They are still building new coal-fired plants, it is only a matter of time before their carbon emissions rise because of them.

Besides: the FT article you point to does not say emissions went down. It only says that total electricity consumption went down. But this is not the same, since emissions will go up if a greater proportion of the electricity is coal-generated.

[Brian_G]

MattJ wrote:

<quoted text>
You miss the point. They are still building new coal-fired plants, it is only a matter of time before their carbon emissions rise because of them.
Besides: the FT article you point to does not say emissions went down. It only says that total electricity consumption went down. But this is not the same, since emissions will go up if a greater proportion of the electricity is coal-generated.

They need fewer plants for fewer consumers consuming fewer watts.

Emissions go down when production goes down because consumption is down. Less CO2, that's good news for climate, right? Lots of unemployed, but nice clean carbon footprints.