Associated Press
California, which puts out more greenhouse gases than any other state, is promising to share ideas and research to help China cut back on its emissions, which have come to rival those of the U.S. as the world's largest.
The state's top environmental official is in Beijing to sign an agreement with the United Nations to help China cut back on releases of greenhouse gases and other pollutants.
According to the four-page agreement to be signed today—Earth Day—California also would mobilize public agencies and encourage private entities in the state to support climate change projects in China.
"I think it will help show them they can indeed reach set targets and move forward on environmental protection and maintain a strong economy as California has," Linda Adams, California's Environmental Protection Agency secretary, said Monday in a telephone interview from Beijing.
President George W. Bush called last week for a halt in the growth of greenhouse gases by 2025.
But his administration has refused to sign international commitments to cut emissions such as the Kyoto Protocol, saying the U.S. would be at a competitive disadvantage unless those treaties also include China, India, and other developing nations.
China and others have countered by saying their output is still less than that of industrialized countries.
Polluted Capital
Beijing is one of the world's most polluted cities. A fog of particulate matter, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide often blankets the city at levels five times higher than safety standards set by the World Health Organization. (Related: "Chinese Air Pollution Deadliest in World, Report Says" [July 9, 2007].)
The pollution has been a worry for some athletes hoping to participate in this summer's Olympic Games. Although the International Olympic Committee has said the pollution would not endanger their health, several athletes have said they are considering wearing masks during competition.
And Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie, the current marathon world-record holder, has said he will not compete in the event in Beijing due to concerns over his asthma.
California's new agreement with the development program, a subsidiary of the U.N., follows several years of international outreach by the state to address such pollution issues in China.
In 2005 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed an environmental agreement with the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau to help improve air quality and water quality. The agreement was amended in 2007 to further bolster California's support of Beijing's air quality programs.
On Monday Schwarzenegger said California's agreement with China recognizes that climate change requires a global solution.
"America has to lead, and we are doing so with or without Washington," Schwarzenegger said in a news release. "California is not waiting for the federal government to take action."
