"Breakthrough" US-China Climate Deal, Will, Uh . . . Do Something (Zero Long-Term Committments)
(Reuters) - China and the United States took a major step in the fight against climate change over the weekend, but what was termed a "breakthrough" might not do much in the longer term to lock in legally binding carbon emission cuts from the world's two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases.
Still, environmental groups and some U.S. and global policymakers said the agreement could give fresh momentum to the United Nations' arduous process of finalizing a global treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol on climate change by 2015.
In their first talks, U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese Premier Xi Jinping agreed to phase out production and consumption of the gases known as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), working under the U.N's 1987 Montreal Protocol.
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The HFC agreement is "rebuilding an urgent sense of optimism" in the multilateral process that can pave the way for agreements on other short-lived greenhouse gases, such as black carbon, the soot emitted from cook stoves and diesel engines, Zaelke said.
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Ed. - emphasis added - O-kay . . .
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/11/us-china-climate-idUSBRE95A15W20130611