China Considers CO2 Plan That Would Count Nations’ Past Emissions

A leading Chinese state think tank has proposed an international plan to control carbon emissions that would strongly weigh the cumulative emissions of various countries, a proposal that would benefit developing countries and place stricter limits on developed nations, such as the United States. The plan, put forward by the State Council Research Development Center, would set emissions limits for each country based on the historic accumulation of CO2 and then allow nations to trade those emissions rights on an international market. The plan would place emissions limits on China and other developing countries, which under the existing Kyoto Protocos face no binding CO2 restrictions. But a key point at this year’s global climate negotiations in Copenhagen will be the actual targets set for countries that are at widely varying stages of development. A new report by the Chinese Academy of Sciences forecasts that China’s CO2 emissions will peak between 2030 and 2040 and then begin to drop.