On November 12, the U.S. and China announced what President Obama called an "historic agreement” to address their respective countries’ greenhouse gas emissions. In anticipation of the climate change talks at COP 21, the U.S.-China Joint Announcement on Climate Change announced their commitment to reaching an agreement with “legal force” that addresses “differentiated responsibilities and capabilities,” a nod to China’s concern that developing nations should not be treated as equal to developed nations in the next agreement. In this regard, China announced it intended to achieve a peaking of its CO2 emissions by 2030 and would work to increase its share of non-fossil fuels in energy consumption to 20% by then. This announcement is the first time China agreed to peak its CO2 emissions. The U.S. said it would reduce emissions by 26-28% below its 2005 level in 2025. Previously, President Obama set a goal to cut the U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent below 2005 by 2020.
A White House Fact Sheet about the announcement says that the “new U.S. goal will double the pace of carbon pollution reduction on average during the 2005-2020 period” and keep the U.S. on target to achieve reductions “on the order of 80%” by 2050. The U.S. plans to submit its 2025 targets to the UNFCC in advance of COP21 talks by the first quarter of 2015.