US retrogressive actions undermine global drive in climate change: report

BEIJING - Washington's poor track record in the environmental field, including high gas emissions and negative stance on climate change, has seriously undermined international environmental protection efforts, a report has said.

The Fact Sheet on Environmental Damage by the US released by China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday lists a series of Washington's negative and retrogressive actions in environmental and climate protection, saying what it has done "has not only backpedaled on its domestic environmental protection policies but also seriously undermined the fairness, efficiency and effectiveness of global environmental governance."

The fact sheet describes the United States as a widely viewed "consensus-breaker and a troublemaker," which has failed to fulfill its climate action commitments.

"After the ratification of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in October 1992, US emissions continued to grow rapidly on an upward trajectory that lasted for 15 years," it said.

In 2010, the United States pledged to cut its economy-wide carbon emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020. "Nevertheless, as of the end of 2018, the US only managed to bring its greenhouse gas emissions 10.2 percent lower than its 2005 figure, barely meeting its 60-percent emission reduction target," it added.

The Donald Trump administration announced its decision to quit the Paris Agreement in June 2017 and will formally withdraw from the climate change deal on Nov 4. As the only party that prepares to leave the agreement, the United States has "seriously undermined global climate governance and cooperation," the fact sheet said.

According to the report, a total of 2,210,546 wildfires broke out in the United States from 1989 to 2018, burning 68,059,232 hectares of land and registering a 0.6-percent annual increase of the number of fires and a 5.7-percent annual increase of area burned.

So far, wildfires in California have been burning for nearly two months and spreading over 16,000 square km, causing mass air pollution and a huge amount of carbon emissions, the report said.