US, China reach surprise deal on climate change

US intends to achieve an economy-wide target of reducing its emissions by 26 - 28 per cent below its 2005 level in 2025. For its part, China intends to achieve the peaking of CO2 emissions around 2030

Beijing: The world's top carbon emitters, the US and China, on Wednesday reached a surprise deal on climate change calling for ambitious action to limit greenhouse gases, in a move that could lead to India de-linking itself from China at future global climate negotiations.

In a major breakthrough, Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Barack Obama, announced respective post-2020 goals of coping with climate change after a comprehensive round of talks here.

Under the agreement, US intends to achieve an economy-wide target of reducing its emissions by 26 - 28 per cent below its 2005 level in 2025 and to make best efforts to reduce its emissions by 28 per cent, a joint statement issued at the end of the talks here said.

For its part, China intends to achieve the peaking of CO2 emissions around 2030 and to make best efforts to peak early and intends to increase the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to around 20 per cent by 2030, it said. This is the first time China has agreed to peak its CO2 emissions, US officials said. The surprise agreement between the top two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases came amid a debate in Indian official circles about the need for India to de-hyphenate itself from its long association with China on climate issues.

According to a 2012 survey, the biggest contributors to fossil fuel emissions included China 27 per cent, US 14 per cent, the European Union 10 per cent, and India 6 per cent.