Is China to Blame?

A chart of proposed U.S. emissions cuts

This week marked the beginning of the Copenhagen Climate Conference. In attendance are countries from around the world that are major players in the international scene and also major contributors to our current climate crisis.

Making a big appearance today was the U.S. and President Obama's cheif negotiator, Todd Stern. Stern, who just got to Copenhagen on Wednesday has already made a big splash when during his first appearance, he pointed out China : “The country whose emissions are going up dramatically, really dramatically, is China,” Todd Stern said according to Bloomberg – adding that “there can’t be a new agreement without China”.

Stern went on to say that the U.S.'s emissions were not as much of a concern, reiterating putting the blame on china, as he stated that the U.S.'s emission were, "pretty much flattening."

While it is true that China is a major contender in the "who emits more pollution" game, it is not entirely true that U.S. emission rates are flattening out, but as Stern also said, pending legislation, the U.S. hopes to reduce its emissions rates by 17 percent by 2020.