Twelve years ago, on this day, November 11th, 2014,
On November 11, in Beijing, China, presidents Barack Obama and Xi Jinping issued a joint statement. In it, they pledged to set new targets for cutting carbon dioxide levels. Their lead could be important. Together, these two nations now emit more than one-third of all the world’s CO2 emissions. https://www.snexplores.org/article/world-leaders-call-action-climate-change
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 399ppm. As of 2026, when this post was published, it is 430ppm. This matters because the more carbon dioxide in the air, the more heat gets trapped. The more heat, the more extreme weather events. You can make it more complicated than that if you want, but really, it’s not. Fwiw, I have a tattoo of the Keeling Curve on my left forearm.
The broader context was that the US had ratified the UNFCCC which called for countries to have “common but differentiated responsibilities” in 1992. Then they had used China’s rise as an excuse not to sign the Kyoto Protocol. China kept rising. The Chinese Communist Party bosses are many things, but climate denialists is not one of them.
Thespecificcontext was that Obama and Xi were on their way to the G-20, being hosted by Australia in Brisbane. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott wanted to keep climate change off the agenda. This was Obama’s response.
What I think we can learn from this – Tony Abbott is both stupid and evil. Er, that’s it.
What happened next: Despite the theatre, emissions kept climbing. Of late, China has been churning out rather a lot of solar panels.
On this topic, you might like these other posts on All Our Yesterdays
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You can see the chronological list of All Our Yesterdays “on this day” posts here.
What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Please do comment on this post, unless you are a denialist, obvs.
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