China, U.S. announce joint cap-and-trade plan

The United States and China may be at odds over human rights, internet hacking, and island-building in the South China Sea, but presidents Barack Obama and Xi Jinping appear to agree on at least one thing: fighting global warming.

The two leaders on Friday jointly announced plans to reduce their national output of carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas blamed for global warming. For the first time, China will implement a national cap-and-trade program, requiring Chinese electric companies, iron and steel plants, and manufacturers of paper, chemicals, and cement to trade emissions credits beginning in 2017. The United States will make its own carbon cuts through existing or planned regulations.

The joint announcement comes amid Xi’s first diplomatic visit to the United States, and two months ahead of a climate summit in Paris, where world leaders will press forward in their perennial quest for an international agreement to reduce carbon emissions. That effort has long been stymied by disputes over which countries should be allowed to emit, and which should make major cuts.

“When the world’s two biggest economies, energy consumers and carbon emitters come together like this, then there’s no reason for other countries, either developed or developing, to not do so as well,” said Obama during a White House press conference with Xi today.

The agreement between China and the United States at least gives an appearance of a unified purpose going into the Paris talks. According to the plan announced Friday, by 2030 China will reduce its carbon intensity by as much 65 percent from 2005 levels. It agreed to expand the growth of forests, promote renewable power and “green” buildings, implement stricter fuel efficiency standards, and cut the emission of hydrofluorocarbon pollutants. China also committed to providing $3.1 billion to fund climate efforts in developing nations, matching a similar $3 billion pledge from the United States.

Carbon “intensity” means the Chinese cuts are tied to the country’s economy: If overall economic output increases, the emissions ceiling will increase as well.

Obama administration officials said the new commitments would not cancel the Chinese climate goals the White House announced last year, which involved plans to build a 380-megawatt Chinese solar plant and to pump 1 million tons of CO2 per year into an underground Chinese reservoir.

Obama has leveraged the power of the executive branch to make carbon cuts within the United States. In August, the Environmental Protection Agency finalized the Clean Power Plan, a set of rules meant to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by one-third from 2005 levels. The Obama administration is crafting new standards to increase vehicle fuel efficiency and reduce emissions of hydrofluorocarbons and of methane from landfills and the oil and gas industry.

China surpassed the United States as the world’s largest carbon emitter in 2007. It emitted at least two-thirds more carbon dioxide than the United States in 2013, although the United States still ranks higher in emissions per capita. With a population of 1.4 billion, China’s economic growth in recent years has been breakneck: The country used more cement between 2011 and 2013 than the United States used during the entire 20th century.

Critics of climate agreements have long argued carbon-reduction schemes would put Western nations at a disadvantage unless major nations like China also agreed to make significant cuts. Xi’s announcement on Friday is a gesture of cooperation, although some doubt whether a Chinese version of cap-and-trade would be transparent and free of corruption.

Thomas Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy Research, said China’s agreement will allow it to continue increasing emissions as Obama’s power plant regulations penalize coal and drive up the price of electricity in the United States.

“China will generate positive headlines while enjoying the economic benefits of generating electricity from coal, while U.S. families struggling in the Obama economy will get stuck with higher utility bills,” Pyle predicted.

Obama and Xi discussed topics beyond the climate during their meeting today, including cybersecurity and military relations. U.S. intelligence officials have blamed China for cyberattacks on U.S. government computers, and China has for months been artificially expanding islands in the South China Sea as part of an apparent effort to expand its military presence in the region, a move that has inflamed its relationship with Japan, a U.S. ally.

China has a record of human rights abuses that include forced abortions and the jailing of political dissidents.

Tonight, the president and first lady, Michelle Obama, will host a state dinner for Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, a singer and actress.