The U.S. and China just struck a historic climate change deal

The U.S. and China just struck a historic climate change deal

Mic

Pesident Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping unveiled ambitious new targets for greenhouse gas reductions at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Beijing on Tuesday night after months of secret negotiations.

Obama unveiled a new plan to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 26% to 28% by 2025, compared to 2005 levels. Earlier in his presidency, had Obama set a goal to cut emissions by 17% by 2020, compared to 2005.

China, the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, agreed to the government's first-ever far-reaching agreement to cap its rapidly growing carbon emissions by 2030, according to the Washington Post. China also committed to increasing the share of non-fossil fuels to 20% of the country’s energy mix by the same year.