Context: The statement by special climate envoy John Kerry and his Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenhua, comes after Kerry traveled to Asia at the last minute ahead of President Joe Biden’s two-day climate summit starting Thursday. Although the statement did not contain any specific new policy actions, it seemed nervous among activists who feared that global efforts to address climate change would suffer as a result of the icy relations between the two countries that are the largest emitters of greenhouse gases.
“A lot of details have yet to be filled in, but that’s a positive statement given the strained relationship. The promise to ‘pursue improved climate action that increases ambition in the 2020s’ and submit net zero plans by Glasgow are both useful steps forward. , ” Alden Meyer tweeted, a senior contributor to brainstorming E3G.
The details: China has also said it will ratify the Kigali amendment to the Montreal Protocol to limit fluorocarbons, a measure that experts say could reduce the planet’s cooler emissions by 0.5 C by the end of the century. will limit. Biden instructed the Department of State to prepare for the ratification of the measure for Senate approval.
The countries also agreed to ‘maximize international investment and financing’ for a transition to cleaner energy in developing countries and ‘concrete actions’ to reduce emissions, discuss this decade, such as increasing the deployment of renewable energy.
Background: Both countries are acknowledged that they boosted global momentum for the Paris Agreement in 2015 when they announced a bilateral emissions agreement before the talks. Kerry and Xie refer to their work in the run-up to the agreement in the new declaration, with a view to pressuring other countries during the climate talks in Glasgow in November to goals they set out years ago as part of the Paris Treaty.
International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol said in a tweet that he welcomed the new statement from the two countries. ‘It provides valuable momentum for the #LeadersClimateSummit on April 22-23. @IEA analysis shows that greater international cooperation is essential to achieve net zero targets. ‘
China promised last year that it would try to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, although it provided little detail on how it would meet the target, while Biden was striving to reach the US point by 2050. The White House said that he promised his Paris his 2030 goal, known as a nationally determined contribution, around the time of the summit. Many people familiar with the thinking of the government believe that by the beginning of the next decade, the plan will require a 50 percent reduction in emissions below 2005 levels.
“The US-China declaration sets a clear tone. Climate change is a crisis. Their joint declaration should give momentum to the global climate process and other countries. The pair must present more ambitious plans ahead of the Earth Day summit,” Greenpeace International Executive Director Jennifer Morgan said in a tweet.