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Published on November 29th, 2009 | by Susan Kraemer

22

Obama Induces Chinese to Cut GHG 40% and Share Electric Car Tech

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What a humiliating failure the President’s Asian trip was. Not only did the President make the humiliating faux pas of bowing deeply to one tiny Asian leader, but no sooner had he returned than two more Asian leaders made counter-offers of deep cuts in carbon emissions at Copenhagen: India offered reductions of 20% and China offered 40%.

Seriously, a little diplomacy goes a long way when your nation has been noted for not signing onto Kyoto for the last 20 years. President Obama was only able to offer carbon reductions of 17% below 2005 by 2020, the level of the Waman-Markey House climate bill. That calculates out to the equivalent to 5% below 1990 (Kyoto’s baseline year).

Al Gore taught us that no administration can unilaterally agree to more carbon reductions than Congress will agree to—60% of the Senate is currently made up of Democrats, yet the Senate must ratify any international treaty by a 67% vote. Given that one or two of the democratic senators are almost as funded by oil and coal as many in the Republican party, reaching 67% agreement has proven nearly impossible.

That is why signing Copenhagen is a real stretch for the U.S. and why Kyoto was beyond us. However, there was one relatively quiet piece of concrete climate change news that came out of the the meeting between China and the United States: the two leaders signed a plan to speed up the global roll-out of electric vehicles and renewable energy.

Moving away from fossil-fueled cars not only cuts greenhouse gas emissions immediately, but also keeps on reducing them as the grid gets greener in the coming years. It also reduces our oil dependence, and cuts the influence in congress of the oil industry that will keep on preventing agreements for carbon reductions in the future.

To speed the transition President Obama and President Hu Jintao of China signed five agreements covering the technologies needed to reduce carbon emissions Energy.gov (pdf):

Electric Vehicles:

Ensuring one standard. They plan development of joint product and testing standards for electric vehicles. This will include common design standards for plugs to be used in electric vehicles, as well as common test protocols for batteries and other devices. Each country currently has extensive literature and data on its own standards. Making this information mutually available and working towards common standards can help facilitate rapid deployment of electric vehicles in both countries.

Joint demonstrations. The Initiative will link more than a dozen cities with electric vehicle demonstration programs in both countries. Paired cities will collect and share data on charging patterns, driving experiences, grid integration, consumer preferences and other topics. The demonstrations will help facilitate large-scale introduction of this technology.

Joint technical road-map. A U.S.-China task force will create a multi-year road-map to identify R&D needs as well as issues related to the manufacture, introduction and use of electric vehicles. The road-map will be made widely available to assist not just U.S. and Chinese developers, but also the global automotive industry. It will be updated regularly to reflect advances in technology and the evolution of the marketplace.

Public awareness and engagement. The United States and China will develop and disseminate materials to improve public understanding of electric vehicle technologies. Building on the success of the first-ever US-China Electric Vehicles Forum in September 2009, the United States and China will sponsor the event annually, alternating between the two countries. The Forum will bring together key stakeholders in both countries to share information on best practices and identify new areas for collaboration.



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About the Author

writes at CleanTechnica, CSP-Today, PV-Insider , SmartGridUpdate, and GreenProphet. She has also been published at Ecoseed, NRDC OnEarth, MatterNetwork, Celsius, EnergyNow, and Scientific American. As a former serial entrepreneur in product design, Susan brings an innovator's perspective on inventing a carbon-constrained civilization: If necessity is the mother of invention, solving climate change is the mother of all necessities! As a lover of history and sci-fi, she enjoys chronicling the strange future we are creating in these interesting times.    Follow Susan on Twitter @dotcommodity.


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  • http://msn john sandifer

    good work Guys, keep the good UP.

  • Bill

    Susan, are you Asian? If not, where did you get the idea that Barack bowed TOO deeply? I’ve talked to several Asians that saw the video of him bowing, and they said all the OTHER presidents did it wrong! Obama is the one that did it right! Try to be more knowledgable about the things you spout off about before you listen to what others have told you. :)

  • Bill

    Susan, are you Asian? If not, where did you get the idea that Barack bowed TOO deeply? I’ve talked to several Asians that saw the video of him bowing, and they said all the OTHER presidents did it wrong! Obama is the one that did it right! Try to be more knowledgable about the things you spout off about before you listen to what others have told you. :)

  • evnow

    Bill, I don’t think you are supposed to take that part seriously …

    Susan,

    Where did you see anything about India’s 20% “cut” ? The nearest I see is this …

    http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gHJyr31_bzTcaOOMqhJJUi7I_n5Q

  • evnow

    Bill, I don’t think you are supposed to take that part seriously …

    Susan,

    Where did you see anything about India’s 20% “cut” ? The nearest I see is this …

    http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gHJyr31_bzTcaOOMqhJJUi7I_n5Q

  • http://greenoptions.com/author/susan Susan Kraemer

    @Bill. Heh.

    evnow – It was in the India Times:

    http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-offers-to-cut-carbon-intensity-by-20-25/articleshow/5276169.cms

    “BEIJING/NEW DELHI: The battle for scoring PR points at the climate change talks has been joined in right earnest.

    On Friday, India dramtically announced that it could consider voluntarily reducing its carbon intensity by 20-25% on a purely domestic level.

    This represents a big leap on the measures announced so far by the government to cut emissions, and will extend to the entire economy rather than be restricted to specific sectors as is the case now.”

  • http://greenoptions.com/author/susan Susan Kraemer

    @Bill. Heh.

    evnow – It was in the India Times:

    http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-offers-to-cut-carbon-intensity-by-20-25/articleshow/5276169.cms

    “BEIJING/NEW DELHI: The battle for scoring PR points at the climate change talks has been joined in right earnest.

    On Friday, India dramtically announced that it could consider voluntarily reducing its carbon intensity by 20-25% on a purely domestic level.

    This represents a big leap on the measures announced so far by the government to cut emissions, and will extend to the entire economy rather than be restricted to specific sectors as is the case now.”

  • ChuckL

    Proper protocol requires that you only bow to superiors and never to equals.

    The President of the United States is still, although he is doing his best to change the status, the leader of the most powerful nation in the world. He should NOT be bowing to anyone.

  • ChuckL

    Proper protocol requires that you only bow to superiors and never to equals.

    The President of the United States is still, although he is doing his best to change the status, the leader of the most powerful nation in the world. He should NOT be bowing to anyone.

  • http://www.technologyslice.com.au Tech

    Talk is cheap. It’s easy to promise figures. China and India need to back up the figures with real action.

  • http://www.technologyslice.com.au Tech

    Talk is cheap. It’s easy to promise figures. China and India need to back up the figures with real action.

  • Captain Morgan

    You’re absolutely right. The trip was an unqualified success … you’re just the only one who sees it. China and India will promise this and that until the cows come home. In the end, though, they will do whatever is in their best interests (economically) to do. If that means ditching these meaningless emissions reduction pledges, then they’ll do it. Governments can make statements like this because there is no one to hold them accountable. It’s a PR stunt … the whole trip was essentially one big photo op.

    From what I see, Obama’s biggest achievement was agreeing to freely export U.S. technology on EV development to a country that hasn’t yet figured out how to make a decent automobile (electric or otherwise). Nice job, Barack! Why not give some of that stimulus cash to the Chinese to build EV’s that we can then import back to the U.S.? It was a good idea for wind turbines, why not cars too? I guess it’s only fair that the stimulus money go to China … it’s their money, after all. Once again, nice job, Barack!

  • Captain Morgan

    You’re absolutely right. The trip was an unqualified success … you’re just the only one who sees it. China and India will promise this and that until the cows come home. In the end, though, they will do whatever is in their best interests (economically) to do. If that means ditching these meaningless emissions reduction pledges, then they’ll do it. Governments can make statements like this because there is no one to hold them accountable. It’s a PR stunt … the whole trip was essentially one big photo op.

    From what I see, Obama’s biggest achievement was agreeing to freely export U.S. technology on EV development to a country that hasn’t yet figured out how to make a decent automobile (electric or otherwise). Nice job, Barack! Why not give some of that stimulus cash to the Chinese to build EV’s that we can then import back to the U.S.? It was a good idea for wind turbines, why not cars too? I guess it’s only fair that the stimulus money go to China … it’s their money, after all. Once again, nice job, Barack!

  • usd777

    Pls, try to avoid politics here… it doesn’t really matter, what they signed, history tells.

  • usd777

    Pls, try to avoid politics here… it doesn’t really matter, what they signed, history tells.

  • Chidemont

    Susan,

    You might want to read the L.A. Times’ correction page – http://tinyurl.com/yl7dg9p

    Emission goals: An article and graphic in Friday’s Section A about China’s pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions stated that the nation had vowed to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions 40% to 45% below 2005 levels by 2020. China promised to reduce its “carbon intensity,” a measure of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product, by 40% to 45% by 2020, compared with 2005 levels. A headline accompanying the article was also incorrect in saying that “China meets, beats U.S. on emission reduction goals.” Whereas the U.S. plans to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to below 2005 levels, China’s emissions could actually increase, depending on its economic growth.

  • Chidemont

    Susan,

    You might want to read the L.A. Times’ correction page – http://tinyurl.com/yl7dg9p

    Emission goals: An article and graphic in Friday’s Section A about China’s pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions stated that the nation had vowed to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions 40% to 45% below 2005 levels by 2020. China promised to reduce its “carbon intensity,” a measure of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product, by 40% to 45% by 2020, compared with 2005 levels. A headline accompanying the article was also incorrect in saying that “China meets, beats U.S. on emission reduction goals.” Whereas the U.S. plans to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to below 2005 levels, China’s emissions could actually increase, depending on its economic growth.

  • http://greenoptions.com/author/susan Susan Kraemer

    @Tech@Chuck: Talk is cheap? “Cheap talk” under Kyoto legislation has led EU fossil energy co BP to build advanced CCS hydrogen fuel plant

    http://cleantechnica.com/2009/12/01/kyoto-accord-to-hydrogen-power-california/

    @Chidemont Yeah, that’s other whole article; comparing various pledges and baselines.

    I’d do that at cleantechnica where I write in more depth about policy design, but the link I supply in the story in “That calculates out to the equivalent to 5% below 1990 (Kyoto’s baseline year).” can get you some initial comparisons.

    Bottom line is anything works. You’d be surprised how many flaws a study I wrote a summary of found in the ETS system,

    http://cleantechnica.com/2009/09/28/what-the-senate-should-know-about-cap-and-trade-in-europe/

    …yet they cut their CO2 13% with it

    http://cleantechnica.com/2009/11/13/eu-on-track-to-meet-or-exceed-original-kyoto-goals-estimate-139-below-1990/

    some by almost half!

    http://cleantechnica.com/2009/11/21/eu-paper-industry-has-cut-carbon-pollution-by-42-exceeded-kyoto-goals/

  • http://greenoptions.com/author/susan Susan Kraemer

    @Tech@Chuck: Talk is cheap? “Cheap talk” under Kyoto legislation has led EU fossil energy co BP to build advanced CCS hydrogen fuel plant

    http://cleantechnica.com/2009/12/01/kyoto-accord-to-hydrogen-power-california/

    @Chidemont Yeah, that’s other whole article; comparing various pledges and baselines.

    I’d do that at cleantechnica where I write in more depth about policy design, but the link I supply in the story in “That calculates out to the equivalent to 5% below 1990 (Kyoto’s baseline year).” can get you some initial comparisons.

    Bottom line is anything works. You’d be surprised how many flaws a study I wrote a summary of found in the ETS system,

    http://cleantechnica.com/2009/09/28/what-the-senate-should-know-about-cap-and-trade-in-europe/

    …yet they cut their CO2 13% with it

    http://cleantechnica.com/2009/11/13/eu-on-track-to-meet-or-exceed-original-kyoto-goals-estimate-139-below-1990/

    some by almost half!

    http://cleantechnica.com/2009/11/21/eu-paper-industry-has-cut-carbon-pollution-by-42-exceeded-kyoto-goals/

  • Brett Rasmussen

    @ChuckL — Sorry, but you are 100% wrong on your bowing information. I happen to live in Japan and had a discussion with a group of Japanese friends on this very topic following Obama’s bow.

    A bow in Japan does not indicate superiority/inferiority, it is a gesture of respect.

    The idea that our nation does not need to show respect for others is a primary reason that our worldwide reputation is in it’s current state.

  • Brett Rasmussen

    @ChuckL — Sorry, but you are 100% wrong on your bowing information. I happen to live in Japan and had a discussion with a group of Japanese friends on this very topic following Obama’s bow.

    A bow in Japan does not indicate superiority/inferiority, it is a gesture of respect.

    The idea that our nation does not need to show respect for others is a primary reason that our worldwide reputation is in it’s current state.

  • http://www.9news.com/life/community/persona.aspx?U=de9bc5b0d8bc4d6d9100488d9a5f1b78&plckPersonaPage=BlogViewPost&plckUserId=de9bc5b0d8bc4d6d9100488d9a5f1b78&plckPostId=Blog%3ade9bc5b0d8bc4 IRS Attorney

    Jack, just like everyone else, can comment on the Constitution which, is based in the “rule of law” not case law administered by faulty thinking judges. Too bad law schools don’t teach the “rule of law” vis-a-vis case law. On what do you base your votes? The hope a partisan judge will make up a new definition of what the Constitution says?

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