France and China agree on Supervision for Environmental Pacts

During French President Francois Hollande’s two day trip to China last week, the two nations released a joint statement mandating that any agreement ratified at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference include checks on whether the signatories are following through with their promises to reduce emissions. Hollande’s visit to China came with the intention of increasing Chinese support for the 2015 Climate Conference, which will be held in Paris from Nov. 30 to Dec. 11. The 2015 Climate Conference will convene nearly 200 countries to strike an agreement to keep the rise in global temperatures below 2 degrees Celsius (36 degrees Fahrenheit) over the next 50 years. As of now, they have not reached the number of pledges needed to achieve this goal. However, Hollande said that support from China, the world’s number one polluter, was a “major step” that increases the likelihood that the Paris conference will succeed.

China has been criticized since the last climate talks in 2009 for opposing legally binding emission cuts. China also recently released figures showing that it emitted almost a billion tons per year more of carbon dioxide than previously estimated. Officials will have to face this recent discovery at the upcoming Paris Climate Conference.

However, in June, China pledged to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 60 to 65 percent and to limit its carbon emissions growth by 2030. With China on board, there is hope that other major polluting countries like the United States and India will feel pressure to support the cause of the 2015 Climate Conference as well.

Following the meeting, Hollande told reporters, “What we have just established here in this declaration is a likelihood that the Paris conference will succeed.”