September 26, 2020 3:00pm by David Farrar

Can we believe China?

Chinese President Xi Jinping says his country will aim to stop adding to the global warming problem by 2060.
Xi’s announcement during a speech on Tuesday (local time) to the UN General Assembly is a significant step for the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases.
Calling for a “green revolution”, Xi said the coronavirus pandemic had shown the need to preserve the environment.
“Humankind can no longer afford to ignore the repeated warnings of nature,” he said.
Citing the Paris Agreement that he and former US President Barack Obama helped forge in 2015, Xi said his country would raise its emissions reduction targets with “vigorous policies and measures”.
“We aim to have CO2 emissions peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060,” he said.

This is a welcome move, but there are two big caveats.

The first is that China is still saying they will have emissions increase for the next ten years.

The more important issue though is how can you trust the Chinese Government to fairly report emissions?

Without an independent public service, the stats produced by the Government lack rigor.