BY CHRIS GASTON

SPECIAL TO NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Washington, D.C. – This morning, President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping announced from Beijing that the U.S. and China have agreed to carbon pollution reduction targets. The U.S. will accelerate reduction targets in 2020, hoping to achieve a 26-28 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2025, compared to 2005 levels. China has agreed for the first time ever to cap the growth of their carbon emissions by 2030. China will achieve this goal, in part, by investing in non-fossil energy sources, which they hope will comprise 20-percent of their power generation by 2030.

U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (NJ-12), the ranking member of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources released the following statement:

“Opponents of climate action have argued that China’s growing emissions would undo anything the U.S. might do,” said Representative Rush Holt. “I have not accepted that argument, because even as China has grown they have recognized in recent years the need to limit emissions of greenhouse gases. Now we have official agreement that the U.S. and China–the world’s largest carbon polluters–will work together to cap and reduce emissions in the coming decades. As we look towards global climate negotiations in Paris in 2015 it is clear that the time to transition to a clean energy economy is now. Climate change is already costing us in lives and dollars. Failing to respond is simply not an option.”