Why is China now asking America to reduce CO2 by 40%?

That is pretty amazing. Ultra liberals and academics will buy anything. Basically China is saying to the West, send us your jobs so we can sell you more stuff cheaper than you could ever make it yourself.

Knock, knock..... Gullible-Gorites.. wake up! The Chinese and Indians have plans to take away our standard of living while you hang around wondering where the white went when the snow melted! I am astounded by how ignorarnt and gullible some people are!

Because crippling the US economy by 20% is not going to be enough in light of the recent Global Recession. It looks like China will need another few years and a greater crippling of the US economy, in order to keep its timetable for becoming the world's leading economic superpower! If 20% was enough then, well 40% must be enough to cover the inconvenience of the Recession?

I love some of the responses on this very good question. Whenever a skeptic indicates that the science has been hijacked by the UN for ideological, political and economic reasons, they are called "deniers". When you asked the question that you have though, the reasoning is all political and ideologically driven!

The West owes absolutely NOTHING to the Third world, to Al Gore, to Mother Theresa or the starving Biafrans! It owes a duty of care to the citizens of the countries that elect the politicians and pay for the scientists’ research in those countries. The duty of a country is to protect ITS CITIZEN’s interests, not the interests of the Third World. Not the interests of the UN, not the interests of world peace and harmony, but its own enlightened self interest. The proposals of the scientists have to be clearly articulated to the public, discussed and the positions must be objectively assessed and defended by them. The US has scientists that are paid by the US. Canada has scientists paid by Canada. It is their duty to work, with scientific integrity, toward the best interests of their respective countries!

Do you seriously think that China’s scientists do not have their science scrutinized by the Chinese Communist Party, so as to eliminate those aspects that do not match their government's objectives? Get real!

China and the US emit a roughly equal amount of CO2. Yes, in an ideal world both would make efforts to reduce their emissions, but the argument that China (and other developing nations) makes is admittedly pretty strong: most of the CO2 in the atmosphere today is the fault of the West.

The US and Europe were able to burn coal for hundreds of years and as a result they had significant economic development. China feels they are entitled to the same kind of development as the West, and of course they're right. And since global warming is, at the moment anyway, mostly the fault of the West, they feel it is the West who should lead the way. China wants to fill in the gap a bit first, i.e. achieve a quality of life for its citizens that is more than just 1/8 what Americans enjoy.

Hell, if I could make my main ideological competitor trash their economy with one simple request, aided and abetted by indigenous useful idiots, I'd do it in a heartbeat, and Sun Tzu would be ecstatic...

it would be real simple for the US to cut it's CO2 footprint 20%....just stop buying things made in China!

Because they know Americans are suckers for environmental issues, and will (willingly, stupidly) cripple our economy for them. Thus it will give the rest of the world economic advantage.

Because we created the problem.

No country has emitted more CO2 from burning fossil fuels than the US. We consume over 20% of the world's oil. Yes, China has finally passed us as the overall largest CO2 emitter, but they have more than 4 times our population! The US still dwarfs their per capita CO2 emissions.

I'm sorry, but I'm sick of Americans trying to pass the buck to China. Our country got rich exploiting cheap fossil fuel resources. As a result, we're responsible for the largest percentage of the increase in atmospheric CO2. China has emitted nowhere near as much CO2 as the USA despite having a much larger population.

China and other developing countries have every right to expect the US to dramatically reduce our CO2 emissions before they do. They're still developing. We've already developed and become the most powerful and wealthy nation on the planet at the expense of the environment. It's time for us to take responsibility for our actions and stop trying to blame others.