The United States and China, the world’s two biggest carbon emitters, have agreed to cooperate on climate change with seriousness and urgency, according to a …
The United States and China, the world’s two biggest carbon emitters, have agreed to cooperate on climate change with seriousness and urgency, according to a joint statement issued on April 17. “This [the cooperation] includes both enhancing their respective actions and cooperating in multilateral processes, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement,” said the statement, released by the U.S. State Department. The two countries agreed to continue to discuss “concrete actions in the 2020s to reduce emissions.” Climate change is among President Joe Biden’s highest priorities. He had the United States rejoin the Paris climate accord in the first hours of his presidency, undoing the U.S. withdrawal ordered by President Donald Trump. He will host a two-day virtual summit April 22–23 to discuss the issue, and has invited about 40 world leaders, including Chinese leader Xi Jinping, to participate. To prepare for the summit, Biden sent U.S. special envoy for climate John Kerry to Asia, with the joint statement coming after a two days of meetings between Kerry and his Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenhua, in Shanghai on April 15 and 16. However, it’s unclear what actions China will take. China, the world’s biggest carbon polluter, announced in September 2020 that it would be carbon-neutral by 2060 and aims to reach a peak in its emissions by 2030, meaning it can continue to increase emissions for the next nine years.
