Opponents of Australia cutting emissions pointed to China’s lack of a target. That argument just got harder to make

Wind turbines in Yancheng city, Jiangsu, China. The country, which has just announced its first emissions target, is estimated to have installed about three-quarters of all the solar and wind power on the planet. Photograph: NurPhoto/Getty Images

Anything China does on energy and climate change is big news. Its plans ripple around the world, whether that’s in changing the demand for fossil fuels or affecting the impacts on the planet from global heating.

On Thursday, Australia woke to the news that China’s president, Xi Jinping, had told the United Nations that for the first time his country was setting a target to cut – in absolute terms – its greenhouse gas emissions.