US-China Emissions Agreement
The United States and China have reached an agreement to jointly reduce emissions, with the United States increasing the stringency of its current targets and China promising to cap emissions by 2030. The deal has been touted as “a real shot of momentum for international climate negotiations,” which will take place in Paris late next year.
In an article for the Huffington Post, RFF President Phil Sharp comments that the United States and China “have much to learn from each other” about building and maintaining their environmental policies. He writes: “China and America are in far different places, but the desire for prosperity by both requires continual attention to the intersection of the economy and the environment.” However, RFF Visiting Fellow Nathan Richardson cautions that “The US-China agreement doesn’t’ offer much, if anything new.”
Natural Gas Potential
A Nigerian oil and gas venture is pushing to increase funding for construction of compressed natural gas (CNG) stations across the country in order to “take full advantage of the global CNG market.” The group cited a report co-authored by researchers at Resources for the Future and the National Energy Policy Institute in their assessment that “expanding the use of natural gas trucks is ‘the most effective and cost-effective policy option available to decrease reliance on petroleum.’”
The report, Toward a New National Energy Policy: Assessing the Options, also examines the welfare costs of transportation policies supporting the replacement of diesel in heavy trucks with liquefied natural gas (LNG). The authors note that “only a limited number of refueling stations would be required” for heavy-duty vehicles as compared to light-duty vehicles, and that fueling heavy trucks with LNG rather than compressed gas gives them “acceptable long-haul ranges of 350 miles on one tank.”
