US, China Agree to Work Together on Something

'We need to think big and be responsible,' Chinese envoy says at UN talks on climate change
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Nov 11, 2021 4:12 AM CST
China, US Pledge to Increase Cooperation at UN Climate Talks
Emissions from a coal-fired power plant are silhouetted against the setting sun, Monday, Feb. 1, 2021, in Kansas City, Mo.   (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

The world’s top carbon polluters, China and the United States, agreed Wednesday to increase their cooperation and speed up action to rein in climate-damaging emissions, signaling a mutual effort on global warming at a time of tension over their other disputes. In back-to-back news conferences at UN climate talks in Glasgow, Chinese climate envoy Xie Zhenhua and US counterpart John Kerry said the two countries would work together to accelerate the emissions reductions required to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, the AP reports. "It’s beneficial not only to our two countries but the world as a whole that two major powers in the world, China and the US, shoulder special international responsibilities and obligations," Xie told reporters. "We need to think big and be responsible."

"The steps we're taking ... can answer questions people have about the pace at which China is going, and help China and us to be able to accelerate our efforts," Kerry said. China also agreed for the first time to crack down on methane leaks, following the lead of the Biden administration’s efforts to curb the potent greenhouse gas. Beijing and Washington agreed to share technology to reduce emissions. Both sides recognize that there is a gap between efforts taken globally to reduce climate pollution and the goals of the Paris deal, Xie said. "So we will jointly strengthen climate action and cooperation with respect to our respective national situations," he said

A US-China bilateral agreement in 2014 gave a huge push to the creation of the historic Paris accord the following year, but that cooperation stopped with the Trump administration, which pulled the U.S. out of the pact. The Biden administration brought the US back in to that deal, but has clashed with China on other issues such as cybersecurity, human rights, and Chinese territorial claims. "While this is not a gamechanger in the way the 2014 US-China climate deal was, in many ways it’s just as much of a step forward given the geopolitical state of the relationship," said Thom Woodroofe, an expert in US-China climate talks. "It means the intense level of US-China dialogue on climate can now begin to translate into cooperation."

(More climate change stories.)

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