Two Top Issues and Memo to the President Term Paper

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Public International Law

Memorandum for preparation for next year's negotiations for the Conference of the Parties (COP)

President XI Jinping of China

Preparation for next year's negotiations for the Conference of the Parties (COP)

Climate Change - Carbon Emissions

Climate change poses one of the most difficult questions to the world today. Cities continue to be the main contributors of this challenge. Most of the greenhouse gases are produced by industries, motorized conveyance, domestic fuel, and disposal of waste and are centered in and around cities. The IEA (International Energy Agency) foresees almost three fourths of the carbon emissions coming from urban centers by 2030. It then becomes imperative for the cities to take cognizance of the fact and react to lessen the effect. Creating an inventory of the carbon footprint would then be the logical first step in the process of addressing the issue of climate change effectively. In creating inventories, policy decisions regarding comparative studies of sources and regions become easier to formulate and apply. There is a need for creating benchmarks, observe effects and propose corrective actions to reduce the emissions. It is important to have a database and inventory to facilitate formulation of solutions towards sustainable control actions and is brought out by numerous studies taken in the cause (Lo, 2014).

China is a vital cog in the quest for reducing carbon emissions and restoring the much needed balance of world climate. China contributes major parts of the destabilizing carbon emissions into the atmosphere. The government in China, since 2006, has taken important steps and measures to make use of sustainable and renewable energy and thereby contribute to the cause of energy conservation. All the same, the cities of China do not make their greenhouse effects public regularly. This has been pointed out and information sought for in many studies that seek this important piece of information. The revelations of the studies are disturbing. The results show that carbon emissions in Shanghai jumped to t180CO2e in 2006 from t110CO2 in 1995. The emissions per capita in Shanghai exceeded the world as well as China average in 2008 and were recorded at 14.3 tCO2e. In Nanjing, the city emissions and per capita emissions were recorded at 75.43million tCO2e and 9.78 tCO2e respectively in 2009 (Lo, 2014).

Research studies that made an inventory of carbon emissions in 12 cities in China found that though in considerably varying degrees, in all of them carbon emissions had increased in the period intervening 2004 and 2008. The national average of the carbon emissions in China is lower than the global average per-capita emissions at 5.5 tCO2e, however the cities show a remarkably different picture in that the per capita emissions there touch or exceed 8.0 tCO2e which is greater than that seen in the cities of developed nations. In a research carried out by Dhakal it was found that the data of 35 major cities that provided region wise data ( per capita emissions) of carbon intensity, the variations were very large from one set of cities to another. The central and western cities of China are the most carbon intensive ones in the data. These are those that are favored by low-energy pricing policies of the government and set up energy consuming industries (Lo, 2014).

The dangerous levels that need to be determined are a subjective matter, but every effort must be taken to quantify global warming. An earlier approach in this regard was rather conservative estimate of the whole truth. As of now, the widely accepted target is to limit the temperature to 2uC, which we suspect to be only a small step in the ultimate quest. The systems latency might prove too formidable for such a gradual approach, however. In that case, keeping the warming levels below the set standard may prove unrealistic, if the emissions continue at the rate they are today. To estimate the effect of continuing 2uC temperature, we use the projections based on effect caused by 0.8uC warming and data for paleoclimate referred to the Eemian era when the average global temperature hovered at +2uC in the period preceding industrial activity. The main measurable considerations are the rise in sea-level and extermination of species, both being irreversible, and other factors of vital relevance to mankind (Hansen, Kharecha and Sato, 2013).

Issue Two: Air quality management

The economical development in China in the last thirty years has been dramatic, however accompanied by a ten percent growth in energy consumption.

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China lags only the U.S. In consumption of energy. The equivalent energy consumption measured in toe (tons of oil equivalent) of China in 2010 was 2.275 billion. In the Chinese cities the main anthropogenic cause of air pollution is because of fossil fuel burning. The main source of fuel in China is coal-fired energy and this has resulted in dangerously high levels of SO2 levels in the air and total suspended particulate matter (TSP)owing to decades of fossil fuel burning. The unprecedented growth of urban centers in China has caused increase in vehicular emissions are rapidly becoming a cause of concern. The urban inhabitation is subjected to air pollution from industrialization, transport, vehicle exhaust, and many other polluting factors. The cities in China are under increasing duress in complying with the set national standards and more than 75% of the urban dwellers are exposed to hazardous environmental conditions. The government has intensified its efforts to control the menace thus caused by setting the NAAQS (National Ambient Air Quality Standard) that needs to be met on a daily basis. As a result, the cities are seeing more of what is in common parlance the 'Blue Sky' days. Presently we shall delve into the current scenario, the progress made, the main queries and the options available in China's pollution control construct (Wang and Hao, 2012).

Acid deposition

There is a continued prevalence of acid deposition in China. About half of the Chinese cities (249 of 494) under surveillance were exposed to acid rain in 2010. In the fifteen year period 1995 to 2010, the levels of pH

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