China and the United States have pledged to mitigate the effects of climate change by significantly reducing greenhouse gases.

The two world’s biggest emitters of greenhouse gases made the pledge on Tuesday at the UN Climate Change Summit during the 69th UN General Assembly.

China’s Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli told the summit that China would make its economy much more carbon efficient by 2020, while US President Barack Obama said the US and China had a responsibility to lead other nations on the issue.

The summit, attended by President Paul Kagame, among other world leaders, was the largest high-level climate meeting since the 2009 Copenhagen Summit on climate change.

The New York summit, hosted by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, brought together world leaders to mobilise political will for a universal and legally-binding comprehensive agreement. The agreement is expected to be sealed in Paris by the end of 2015.

At the Paris conference, nations are expected to make pledges to cut their emissions in order to keep future warming below the internationally agreed upon threshold of 2 degrees Celsius. In a statement issued during the summit, Rwanda shared its vision for sustainable energy.

"We want to produce and consume more, but we want to do so sustainably,” the statement reads in part.

Meanwhile, President Kagame and the President of the EU Commission, José Manuel Durão Barroso, signed the Sustainable Energy Declaration Agreement.

Rwanda is one of the five beneficiaries of a Euro2 billion grant from the EU that will be used to woo private investments into sustainable energy projects.

As part of national efforts to address climate change challenges, Rwanda established Environment and Climate Change Fund (Fonerwa), a national vehicle for funding initiatives aimed at mitigating climate change.

Fonerwa aims at spearheading green growth in Rwanda for the next 50 years, while serving as a touchstone for Africa and the rest of the world.

It aims to provide technical and financial support to public and private projects that align with Rwanda’s commitment toward a green economy.

Rehemah Namutebi, the Fund’s Management Specialist, told The New Times yesterday that Fonerwa has since approved financing of 15 projects across the country with six of them already in progress, including the construction of 400 hactares of progressive terraces in Musanze District, and providing solar lanterns for households, among others. Since its establishment mid last year, the Fund has trained 723 stakeholders in proposal development and submitted 891 eligible project concept papers for funding.

Meanwhile, through carbon financing, Africa would be able to harness renewable energy by selling carbon credits to larger emitters.

In 2012, humanity emitted 36 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, of which 10 billion came from China and 5.2 billion from the US.

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