Leaders meet and create history

L

ast November, President Obama stood in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping — and made history.

The leaders of the world’s two largest economies — and two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases — surprised the global community by jointly announcing their plans to combat one of the biggest threats facing the world this century: Climate change.

Brian Deese -"We're taking action and
the world is joining us".

China, for the first time, committed to a specific date for “peaking” their emissions — and showed how they would get there by also pledging to build more zero-carbon energy generation than they currently have in coal power.

President Obama announced that the United States would build on the historic progress we’ve already made to cut carbon pollution and protect public health by reducing emissions 26–28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025.

Today, the United States followed through on that joint announcement by officially submitting our target — or “intended nationally determined contribution,” in the jargon of the international climate negotiations — to the UNFCCC.

Read the Brian Deese’s story here: “ We're taking action on climate change and the world is joining us”.