An unexpected move by the US and China jointly to set out their plans to tackle global warming prompted a lukewarm response in Europe and hostility in Washington, a sign that sealing a global climate treaty next year still faces hurdles.
“We don’t have enough information from the Chinese or the Americans to really be clear about the implications of this,” said the UK climate change secretary, Ed Davey, after China for the first time announced its carbon dioxide emissions would peak in 2030 and the US said it would emit up to 28 per cent less carbon in 2025 than it did in 2005.
Mr Davey, who led a push to secure an EU deal last month to cut emissions by 40 per cent by 2030, said he would have liked to have seen China’s emissions peak earlier, “probably around 2025”.