While negotiators hoped for concrete progress towards an international climate agreement, the world’s two largest polluters were distracted – the US with preventing a collapse of the financial system in the midst of a presidential transition, China with a slowdown in domestic investment and weakening foreign demand for its manufactured goods.
Angesichts fallender Häuserpreise und schwindender Rentenrücklagen in den USA und steigender Arbeitslosigkeit in China hegen Beobachter Zweifel, ob die beiden Länder große Lust auf eine Senkung ihrer Emissionen haben.