SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – The United States and China, the world’s two largest carbon pollutants, have agreed to work with other countries to curb climate change, just days before President Joe Biden hosts a virtual summit of world leaders offer to discuss the issue.
U.S. climate envoy John Kerry and his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua reached an agreement during two days of talks in Shanghai last week, the State Department said in a statement on Saturday.
“The United States and China are committed to working with each other and with other countries to tackle the climate crisis, which must be addressed with the seriousness and urgency it requires,” the joint statement said.
China and the United States are the world’s best carbon pollutants, pumping nearly half of the fossil fuels that heat the planet’s atmosphere. Their cooperation is key to the success of global efforts to curb climate change, but weakened ties over human rights, trade and China’s territorial claims to Taiwan and the South China Sea have threatened to undermine such efforts.
Kerry’s Shanghai trip has been a top-level U.S. tour official since Biden took office in January. From Shaghai, the former foreign minister flew to South Korea for talks.
Biden invited 40 world leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, to the April 22-23 summit. The US and other countries are expected to announce more ambitious national targets for reducing carbon emissions before or during the meeting, along with financial pledges for climate efforts by less affluent countries.
It is unclear how much Kerry’s visit to China will foster cooperation between the United States and China on climate issues.
While Kerry was still in Shanghai, Chinese Vice Minister Le Yucheng announced on Friday that China was unlikely to make new promises at next week’s summit.
“For a large country with 1.4 billion people, these goals are not easily achieved,” Le said in an interview with The Associated Press in Beijing. “Some countries are asking China to achieve its goals sooner. I’m afraid it’s not very realistic. ”
Asked whether Xi would join the summit, Le said “the Chinese side is actively studying the matter.”
During a video conference with German and French leaders on Friday, Xi also said that climate change ‘should not become a geopolitical disk, a target for attack on other countries or an excuse for trade barriers’, although he said according to the collaboration asked about the issue. to the official Xinhua News Agency.
Biden, who said combating global warming was one of his top priorities, would rejoin the Paris climate agreement in the first hour of his presidency, withdrawing the U.S. withdrawal ordered by his predecessor Donald Trump.
Major greenhouse gas emitters are preparing for the next UN climate summit in Glasgow, UK, in November. The summit is aimed at restarting global efforts to keep rising global temperatures below 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), as agreed in the Paris Agreement.
According to the US-China statement, the two countries would “improve their respective actions and cooperation on multilateral processes, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement.”
It said both countries were “determined to work with other parties to strengthen the implementation of the Paris Agreement.”
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Associated Press author Ken Moritsugu in Beijing contributed to this report.