Climate change. Everyone points their fingers at china. Why should we do anything because china is not doing anything. But the agreement between supplement and china as president obama wrapped up his visit to beijing at the very least changes the optics. Will this spur the world to action . Have the u. S. And china overpromised welcome politics here are in play. What about china. Can it deliver, and does it intend to. Were focusing on the realities and mechanics inside the deal. The two worstpolluting nations on earth shook on an Historic Deal pledging to do more to dramatically cut down on Carbon Emissions over the next 20 years. This is an ambitious goal, but it is an a chiefible goal. The u. S. Greed to cut back its emissions by a quarter by the year 2025 compared to 2005 levels. Chinas president made an unprecedented promise to peak his countrys commissions by 2030 or sooner. We have agreed to promote International Negotiations on Climate Change and attain an agreement in paris. Then deepen substantial cooperation in the field of clean energy and areas of environmental protection. Although chinas smog and soot is sometimes so bad that it closes down cities and towns the government has been he is tonight to tush Carbon Emissions as the continue continues to rapidly grow. I commend the president and Chinese Government for the commitment theyre making to slow, peak, and then reverse chinas emissions. But not everyone back in the u. S. Is celebrating. Congressional republicans warn this deal sets up an impossible feat for americas next president. To hold to todays pledge, the u. S. Will need to move at twice the speed. Its something that the president thinks he can do without congress. I was particularly distressed about the deal. I read the agreement requires the chinese to do nothing at all for 16 years. While these carbon emission regulations create havoc in my state and other states around the country. Others see it as a breakthrough trip for both leaders. China negotiating with president obama. At apec wrap up press conference the president even took questions from reporters but held the line on chinas domestic issues. I think it goes without saying that law and order must be maintained according to law in any place, not just in hong kong, buts wills elsewhere in the world. Still the accords obama reached were nort noteworthy. The pathway for a potentially cleaner earth. No one is going to say followin following this trip that u. S. And china are best friends, and later in the program well talk about what the accomplishments mean for the economic relations between our two countries. But first well dig into the details of whats hailed as an historic agreement of Climate Change. Joining us a scholar , our guests. Thank you to all of you for joining us. Derek, this agreement has certainly made headlines. But does it have taken teeth . Is it as significant as its being made out to be . No its not. Its pretty much what is happening any way. The u. S. Emissions have been dropping nine years now partly due to weak economy. Chinas emissions have started to drop. Or their growth has started to drop, and thats due to weak chinese economy. The president has gotten together to ratify what was happening any way. Erik, if it does mean something maybe, maybe something good is going to come out of this just on the basis of what the agreement is about, does it mean anything if its not binding . If its just a handshake feel that we might get to this, we might not . Thats the question. This is a nonbinding agreement between china and the United States. We have the International Negotiations with paris in 2015 as being the big destination point. And what this does do it provides some political momentum for those negotiations. Even though United States and china would prefer not to have a binding agreement out of paris. They want to have these voluntary agreement where they self monitor each other and they ignore the science of Climate Change when they sign these agreements any way. China is addicted to cheap energy. Theyre addicted to coal. It has escalated them to the number two spot economically on the globe. Why would they agree to this, and why would they agree to it now . Well, i think first of all the environment has become one of the most serious issues for the chinese public and the chinese leadership. For apec the meeting they had to shut down a lot of factories limit traffic on the road just to bring about a few blue skies. Because even the president joked that he wanted those apec blue skies to stay, but he also recognized that they might not. So in that sense he is under a lot of pressure to make sure that the environment continues tothere are efforts made to improve the environment. And the Climate Change relates to the environment in many ways, and its a very important consideration. As public pressures go, the leadership has been talking about the need for environment protection, alsos for Climate Change. In that sense all of of this continues to the growing discourse with china about limiting im sorry to interrupt but you said something interesting. Talk a limb bit about that, the influence that the public is having. Are they tired of dirty air and dirty water. The influence that perhaps the media is having . Weve heard they are of theyve been more aggressive than usual on this topic. Absolutely. Well, the interesting issue is that the chinese is strongly in favor of the governments development side. But increasingly our opinions attitudes and numbers increasingly show the chinese have become less happy. Theyre concerned about the issues of food safety, air quality and water safety. Theyre very concerned with the quality of life issues. We want to do something to show that we care. When it comes to the air everyone can see, smell and over time we have to doing iser certai certain things. The chinese and other micro Blogging Services have been reasonbly opened on issues of the environment as well. I think actuallyi agree with everything that the professor just said but the key word was tangentially. Yes, china cares about water pollution, and the Chinese People care about air quality and toxicity and land. And cancer rates and those are important environmental issues. None of those are Carbon Emissions. China has massive environmental challenges ahead of it, those all will take priority over carbon. The reason why you make these vague, not interesting commitments on carbon because you want to reduce coal for other reasons, and Carbon Emissions will happen to be capped as a result. I agree with everything that the professor just said, but that all points to china into the emphasizing Carbon Emissions not that this is an historic break through. Your point that the chinese caring about all of these issues. The reason the skies were clear was because they shut down factories and took half the cars and forbid them from being on the road. I how much do they really care if these are the measures they go to appear to make things look good or if a Million People are dying lets not forget there is mastiff control over behalfing and pollution, and i think what well see is that pollution ends up being a destabilizing impact on society. And whether its Carbon Emissions or eliminating measure curry or cleaning up the air the Chinese Government is really concerned with what is going on on the ground that destabilizes society. I would add one additional point. China is worried about its international image. China received a lot of International Criticism wrongfully. I think the United States was largely at fault for what happened in copenhagen, but theyre very aware of their International Role and want to preserve that role seen as a leader, at least not seen at a lagger when it comes to these negotiations. Well take a break. When you are as big as china, 20 of anything is a huge number. Well put it all in perspective. This is inside story. An american tonight investigative report i want the schools to want me no matter what. Im still equal. What if you had a brilliant mind . I want to get into a competitive school. But life has been a struggle. Black and latino kids. They feel shut out of these schools and shut out of the opportunities that they offer and you only have a solitary chance to turn your world around the way to get entrance is through taking one single exam. Testing under fire an america tonight investigative report only on Al Jazeera America at the height of the cold war were spies. Intercepting messages from embassies, military bases. One of the americas closest allies. We were not targeting israelis. Suddenly attacked bullet holes. Just red with blood. 34 killed. We had no way to defend ourselves high level coverups. Never before heard audio. A shocking investigation a conscience decision was made to sweep it under the rug. The day Israel Attacked america only on Al Jazeera America welcome back to inside story. Were talking about china joining the fight against Climate Change. China is pledging to peak Carbon Emissions by 2030 and then reducing. By that point 20 of its Energy Production will be from clean sources. How significant is that . To put it in perspective, chinas 20 equals more power than what comes from all the coal power plants that exists today, and the United States. Is it possible for china to achieve that 20 . I think its a function of money and commitment. Its really how much is the Chinese Government willing to invest in transforming its economy . What kind of infrastructure are we talking about . This is massive. Its not something that weve seen. Its changing from the stone age to the bronze age. Its the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel age. I disagree with that. Hydropower is clean. If you take hydro,nuke, wind, solar, chinese are about 15 now. To get those big numbers the white house is talking about, you have to project massive increases of chinese consumption. If you get those then its a big challenge and then you have a huge amount of coal even though the coal share is declining. If china continues its path of Economic Growth, and you get to zero percent of emission sources youll have a huge amount of coal use. If they slow down. This is. If coal is declining theyre still building coalpowered plant. How can you say that youre committed to a clean energy future. We have renewables. Were exporting oh fossil fuels, coal, shale gas. The United States is also caught in this game when it comes to Climate Change. Were projecting well do something, 26 to 28 reductions. Yet look at our policies were export ing more fossil fuels were debating the Keystone Pipeline and oil exports, the u. S. Is guilty of the same game as what the Chinese Government is. Do you think the Chinese Government can meet these goals . I think there are several aspects of the Chinese Government project tore. There is going to be a shift in the industrial structure. That shift alone, along with the compensation of energy use over time. Secondly i traveled over china. There are wind mill farms, it is extraordinary is to see what is happening with solar and wind power. And also on this shape the present , there are deliveries of gas to china, the mix of energy use, and we have the ability of national gas as well. And china itself is developing shale. So china is exploring. Whats interesting is this year coal prices have dramatically increased in china, yet coal use may be for the first time declining in china in absolute amounts. Thats substantial. Let switch a little bit and talk about what it will take for the u. S. To meet the goals that the u. S. Has set. Mitch mcconnell is saying that youve saddled the president with unrealistic numbers of coal and it will cost jobs. The agreement that president obama struck is basically business as usual. I dont think the airportal Protection Agency has to do much more to get to that 26 reduction. Dont they have to double the speed with which were reducing our Carbon Emissions between 2020 and 2025 to make that goal . Were on the pathway when it comes to the vehicle fuel economy standards. Theyre talking about the increase of those over the next five years. Thats still being drafted right now. The new power plant rule. There is a methane gas rule. And if you roll up all these rules together, its a lot of rules, and i think derek would say a lot of regulation, but its getting at the sources of Climate Change which puts us on that trajectory. It was very interesting where there was a blog post off the white house saying were using existing executive authority to achieve these reductions which means they feel they have the authority within the environmental Protection Agency and elsewhere to get to that 26 and 28 without stretching. What would be challenging is if the president took this opportunity to go even further than what weve committed with china in this agreement. If you look at all the numbers. The chinese commitment, the u. S. Commitment still means that were going to fail to reduce Global Warming levels to what is required to avoid a 2 degrees sent grat centigrade increase where Scientists Say bad things will happen. It can be stopped through legislation, what do you predict will happen . I really begin think this is a wet firecracker. If you get a decent shale video where shale production continues to expand during this time period, which is entirely reasonable, at the pace that consensus expectations, the Energy Information administration, youre going to get this done from shale subbing out for coal. I dont think that senator mcconnell ate job loss are warranted. I dont think the claims of drastic epa regulation is necessary. If the government is going to interview in Gas Production in some way, then you have a different story. I think both of us see this as not a big of deal. Two guys who normally agree are agreeing on this. When we come back well look at two power players on the u. S. And china. It was a historic week in many ways. Well talk about that in a moment. Stay with us. Youre watching inside story on Al Jazeera America. Im lisa fletcher. Were looking at what many are calling the historic climate agreement between china and the United States this time on the program. Now we want to go inside the u. S. China relationship. President obama and chinas president toasted each other at the end of an unexpectbly productive state visit. You would not know that these two nations are rivals on the world stage. They created deals with potentially huge implications. President obama said a strong cooperative relationship with china was key. Meanwhile, the president has driven his country hard since becoming leader two years ago pushing Rapid Development and Economic Growth while engaging in territorial disputes with neighbors like japan. Where does china see itself, its future and how might its relationship with the u. S. Shape that vision . Still with us, professor of Political Science at the university of chicago, and with me on set, senior fellow at the brookings institute. Thanks for being here. A pleasure to be here. The trip yielded a number of things, the visa agreement, lower ta riffs between the two countries. What could this mean moving forward in terms of the relationship between the two countries. I think the headline on this visit is the climate agreement despite the conversation you had with the other two guests. As you look at ten years ago at the agreements reached on this visit, the only one that rises to the potentially to the level of being historic really marking a turning point as we move forward on major global issue is climate agreements. The other agreements are significant but not dramatic. Weve been discussing these for a while. Its good that we have an agreement in principle. They still have to fill in the blanks, but thats a good development. The agreement on Information Technology reduction of tariffs across the technology world. Good thing if we get the wto to agree with it, and i suspect they will. There were constructive elaborations of a relationship that had gotten very scratchy. Thats one of the reasons why you have these kinds of summits. Everyone focuses on what can we do to set things back on a better path. Especially in the wake of midterm elections in the u. S. And president obama is heading in his last two years in office. I would argue that it was better than expected, but it was not dramatic with the sole potential to the climate agreement. What are is your take with the broader implications of the u. S. Relationship with china. I probably share what the professor just mentioned, but im a little more optimistic with this. First of all, expectations going into the summit was so low. As a result the issues, they were taken more as increasing developments. Of course, the previous developments between the two countries. They have tended to look at the negative side of this relationship and have forgotten how hard the two countries are working and this summit, meeting actually underscored how much the two countries are working together on various common challenges facing the two countries also more globally, and really accentuates and under scores the importance of this relationship, not only for the two countries but more globally. Ken, the u. S. And china they have always had very strong commercial ties. That was something that was underscored again with the president s visit. Is there anything that happens on this visit that would indicate that hes making progress oneringl on . Issues that had been touch points that had been sort of untouchable . I think the progress on those issues, human rights, there was not real progress. On cyber spying i would argue that there was no real progress. What they did agree to is to increase corporation on terrorism and various measures and intelligence sharing and Financial Measures and others to try to contain the terrorism problem. I think there was progress on that. There was a reaffirmation of very important things. Working together on the iran nuclear issue. There were Big Decisions to be made later this month, and issues that were anxious to have the chinese stick with us. Were continuing to agree on measures on ebola in africa and bringing electricity to communities in africa. There are a variety of things that are global issues or regional issues of importance elsewhere. We either reaffirmed or marginally increased our level of corporation. Those are all good things. But i think that there was nothing that was Game Changing in any of those areas. While there might not have been anything that was definitively Game Changing, what about in terms of the Relationship Building that is happening here between the president of china and the president of United States on a global stage. What do you predict that influence to be moving forward . Well, i think the summit really reset a little bit of the relationship underscoring the collaborative aspect of this relationship, and we also need to keep in mind that this needs to be considered together with a little bit of rewarming of the relationship of china and japan. There will be meetings the next day also. I think all together for china there is very little interesting reset in terms of trying maintain the positive aspects. We may say that the initial consolidation phase of the president is mostly behind, hes so sure now that he can relax a little bit and step back fro in terms of pushing for territorial issues and trying to stabilize and result in other issues well. Much prize for the president s of china and the u. S. But what is the source of conflict out of this deal . I think were still at a point, first of all, i agree very much with professor yang. This improved the tone and dynamic of the relationship. This is one of the reasons why you have these summits, to get things moving in an it istive direction and look at what 9 benefits of the relationship are. When you look tat concretely there is nothing that has moved the ball forward. The treaty issue, which is a very important potentially very important bilateral economic matter for us. They agree to work on this to speed it up. But were going to see in the next few months whether that becomes feasible to do within the time frame left of the political calendar on our side. That will do it for us thank you to our guests. Well see you next time. Hello, welcome to the news hour. Im Martine Dennis in doha, and these are our top stories. 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