Curbing the dragon's smoke

摘要

It could just be the breakthrough the world has been waiting for. After years of prevarication, China now reportedly wants to ensure its carbon dioxide emissions peak, perhaps as early as 2025 (see page 6). With US emissions also peaking, due largely to growing use of shale gas, the world's two biggest polluters may finally be committed to action - action made even more timely by recent studies that have eliminated some of the scarier climate scenarios, creating a window of opportunity. Some will find it hard to take China at its word, as its past actions seem to speak differently. But its orgy of coal power-plant construction is ending - not least because of domestic opposition to smog - and it has plenty of cleaner natural gas, is rapidly rolling out nuclear power and is already the world's biggest producer of solar panels and wind turbines.