Menendez: US-China agreement helps global climate deal in 2015

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) said climate change deniers can no longer use China as an excuse for inaction on greenhouse gas emissions after the country agreed to limit the dangerous pollutants.

Menendez’s comments came after the United States and China announced a historic agreement between the two countries that both would work to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

{mosads}“The Obama administration’s work to secure this agreement signals that China can no longer be used as an excuse to not act on global warming,” Menendez said Tuesday. “China and the U.S. are acting in tandem to reduce emissions, drive down clean energy costs even further, and protect us from even more severe climate impacts.”

The Obama administration set a goal of reducing U.S. emissions to 26 percent below 2005 levels over the next 10 years. Though China did not set a specific reduction goal, this is the first time Chinese leaders have pledged to stop the rapidly growing emissions.

The administration has said it hopes the new deal will motivate more countries to do the same ahead of a meeting in Paris next year where some hope to reach a binding international agreement to address climate change.

“This bold announcement from the world’s two largest economies and greenhouse gas emitters can help lead to a robust global climate agreement in Paris next year,” said Menendez, who serves as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) blasted the deal as “unrealistic.” Obama will have to unilaterally try to reach these goals since Republicans will control the House and Senate for the last two years of his presidency.

Some in the Republican Party have said climate change is a “hoax,” despite widespread agreement among the scientific community that it is real.