“Green and low carbon transition is the trend of our time.”
Xi Jinping of China, 9/24/25
Photo by Jehyun Sung on Unsplash
Mind the gap
With the United States pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement and bolstering subsidies of fossil fuels, including the worst offender – coal (gasp), there’s a clear climate leadership gap on the world stage. As the second-largest emitter of heat-trapping gases, what America does has a huge ripple effect. Historically, when we’ve led, others followed. So what happens when we don’t? We’re seeing that play out now.
At last week’s UN Climate Summit, countries from around the world came forward with updated goals on their plans to decarbonize. The Paris Agreement calls on all 195 participants to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, and some announced ambitious targets to stay on track. Here are just a few examples:
- EU: 66–72% cuts by 2035
- Australia: 62–70% cuts by 2035
- Brazil: 59–67% cuts by 2035
Over 100 world leaders spoke and made their case for urgent action. Kenya’s President William Ruto called climate change both Africa’s greatest threat and biggest opportunity for development. Brazil’s President Lula emphasized urgency and rolled out a plan to compensate countries for protecting their forests. Russia got in the game by announcing their updated plan as well.
These pledges are serious, but without the biggest polluters on board, will it be enough? When it comes to emissions, the heavy hitters are China, the U.S., and India. India has not released its updated pledge, but is making major strides of it’s own with clean energy. This year they reached a goal of having 50% of new power coming from renewable sources an impressive 5 years early.
Could China step up?
With the U.S. sitting on the sidelines, attention turned to China. In July, they penned an agreement with the EU to work together tackling climate change. Then last week, for the first time, China made a concrete pledge: to cut emissions 7–10% from peak levels by 2035.
That may sound underwhelming, but China has a track record of overdelivering. They had pledged 1.2 gigawatts of wind and solar by 2030 and blew past that goal six years ahead. With their rapid acceleration of renewables and electric vehicles, it’s possible they will far exceed their pledge. Besides, China’s emissions are so massive that even modest drops will make waves. Let’s hope they’re sandbagging.
Looking ahead
It’s painful to watch the U.S. withdraw from climate leadership. But often when one leader steps back, another steps forward. There are hopeful signs other countries are ready to fill the gap, which is good news, because the world doesn’t have the luxury taking a wait and see approach.
Let’s do something about climate change. Learn about it. Talk about it. Help solve it.