WASHINGTON (AP) – China is preparing to announce plans to launch a national system to limit greenhouse gases and force industries to purchase pollution credits, Obama administration officials said Thursday.
Beijing plans to put the system known as cap-and-trade into place in 2017 as part of measures aimed to address climate change in cooperation with the U.S. and others.
A joint statement to be released following Friday’s summit between President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping aims to flesh out how their two countries plan to achieve targets for cutting emissions set at a bilateral summit in Beijing last year.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity so they wouldn’t pre-empt China’s official announcement, said it’s hoped the announcement will give impetus to a broader global treaty on climate change at a Paris conference in December.
The announcement will also cover components of the cap-and-trade strategy, including the individual sectors covered under the plan, which range from power production to papermaking, the officials said. Those sectors produce “a substantial percentage of China’s climate pollution,” one official said.