A small victory

Barack Obama, despite set-backs in the recent mid-term elections which saw the Republicans regain control of the US Senate, keeps gamely plugging away at the climate change file.
Obama is committing the USA to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 26%-28%, compared with 2005 levels, by 2025. The Republicans, of course, have vowed to reverse the decision, on the grounds that a few of their supporters may become poorer (and global warming is an urban myth anyway...)
This very specific American commitment, involving deeper cuts than heretofore considered, was given in return for a much less specific and altogether less impressive commitment by China, which pledges to ensure that their emissions peak by about 2030 (which could be interpreted as carte blanche for Chine to continue increasing its emissions for the next 15 years).
It remains, however, something of a landmark agreement, because China (now the biggest single emitter of greenhouse gases, representing nearly 30% of world emissions) is finally talking about limiting total carbon emissions and not just carbon intensity. The US and China together produce about 45% of the world's carbon dioxide (see the excellent interactive tool created by the Global Carbon Atlas project), so any pledges they are willing to make are globally significant.
It is also the first step in getting past the spurious line often used by countries like Canada and Australia that there is no point in trying to reduce emissions if other large emitters like China and India are doing nothing.
A small victory perhaps, but a victory nevertheless. And I'm not holding my breath for Stephen Harper to follow suit.