South Africa Capping Greenhouse Gas Emissions. What Say You, India and China?

Cape Town Downtown Photo
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Bucking the tide of many developing nations, South Africa has chosen to set a limit on its greenhouse-gas emissions and to increase its use of renewable energy sources. South Africa's Environment Minister, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, said the country has a target to "stabilize" emissions by 2020 to 2025, "with absolute reductions in emissions...to begin ten years after growth was halted."

How will they meet this goal? Well, first by reducing consumption of cheap coal for electricity and requiring that all coal power plants use both carbon capture and storage technology. There will also be a greater emphasis on using energy from renewable sour...