WASHINGTON — Oregon’s Democratic senators praised the new climate agreement between China and the United States announced Wednesday, but Republican leaders in Congress expressed reservations.

The agreement, announced by President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the end of Obama’s visit to China, calls for the U.S. to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025.

China agreed to peak its CO2 emissions by 2030, and that 20 percent of its energy production will be from renewable sources by then.

The agreement marks the first time China has set an emissions goal and raises the possibility of a larger, multinational agreement at international climate talks in Paris at the end of 2015.

In a prepared statement, Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., applauded the agreement.

“The economic security of American middle-class families depends on tackling climate change, which is why (Wednesday’s) announcement that the two largest economies in the world are committing together to cutting carbon pollution is so important,” he said. “This agreement is a good start to taking on the carbon pollution that threatens our way of life and our natural-resource economy in rural America, and particularly in our West. We can’t bury our heads in the tar sands any longer. Catastrophic climate change is already harming our economy, particularly industries such as our farming, fishing and forestry in Oregon. It’s time for action, and this is an important step forward.”

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., noted climate change is a global problem that requires global action.

“I commend the president for securing a commitment from China to curb emissions,” Wyden said. “We need to ensure a level playing field for workers and manufacturers in the U.S., China, India and elsewhere in order to achieve worldwide carbon reductions.”

Through his spokesman, Rep. Greg Walden, R-Hood River, declined to comment, saying he had not seen the details of the agreement.

In the past, Walden has acknowledged that climate change is real.

“It’s very clear to me the planet is getting warmer,” he told the Mail Tribune newspaper in Medford in 2007. “That has been pretty well concluded by the scientific community. We have temperature records going back more than 300 years demonstrating that.”

But the United States cannot solve the issue without other countries, particularly China and India, doing their part too, he said.

“Obviously, we should all do our parts, but if China and India don’t participate in a meaningful way, all we do is offshore our jobs there,” Walden said. “This has to be a global effort, not just local.”

Early Republican response indicated little support for the new agreement. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who is poised to become majority leader when the new Congress is sworn in at the start of next year, told reporters Wednesday the deal allows China to do nothing for 16 years.

“This unrealistic plan that the president would dump on his successor would ensure higher utility rates and far fewer jobs,” McConnell said.

Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., who is in line to become chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, called the deal “a nonbinding charade.”

“It’s hollow and not believable for China to claim it will shift 20 percent of its energy to nonfossil fuels by 2030, and a promise to peak its carbon emissions only allows the world’s largest economy to buy time,” he said in a prepared statement. China builds a coal-fired power plant every 10 days, is the largest importer of coal in the world and has no known reserves of natural gas, he said.

“The American people spoke against the president’s climate policies in this last election. They want affordable energy and more economic opportunity, both which are being diminished by overbearing EPA mandates.” As we enter a new Congress, I will do everything in my power to rein in and shed light on the EPA’s unchecked regulations.”

The Obama administration had already pledged to reduce CO2 emissions by 17 percent by 2020, and the new agreement would require faster reductions between 2020 and 2025. Current emission levels are 10 percent below 2005 levels, but they have begun creeping up recently.

China and the United States are the two biggest producers of CO2 — and together their emissions make up more than one-third of the world’s total.

—  Reporter: 202-662-7456, aclevenger@bendbulletin.com