China and India can’t replace US

AS THE US pulls back from its commitment to fight climate change, the world’s two other biggest polluters – India and China – are sounding the alarm. But neither country is in a position to foot the bill.

Their vast populations stand to lose dramatically from global warming, and the two countries’ leaders are already taking a stronger public stance against the threat posed by carbon emissions in the form of rising sea levels.

Both say they will honour their own commitments to the Paris accord, and are encouraging other countries to do the same. That sort of rhetorical leadership is very welcome, experts say, but neither country is in any position to replace the financial incentives the US had offered poorer nations.

Earlier this week, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on a visit to Berlin, stood alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel and said that failing to act on climate change was a “morally criminal act”.

And earlier this year, Chinese President Xi Jinping called the 2015 climate accord in Paris “a hard-won achievement” and urged other signatories to stick to their pledges instead of walking away – “as this is a responsibility we must assume for future generations”.

The US is the world’s second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases and had pledged in Paris to reduce its emissions 26% to 28% below their 2005 levels by 2025. Trump, who has said climate change is a “hoax” and that restrictions are bad for the US economy, has already moved to roll back many Obama-era policies such as clean power, vehicle emission standards and curbs on power plants.

China and India had been slow to address the issue of global warming – fearing it would hold back the pace of development