The world’s two biggest greenhouse gas emitters have agreed to revive a bilateral climate working group ahead of a meeting between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The US and China will back a new global renewables target and work together to reduce methane emissions and plastic pollution.
The announcement comes in advance of a meeting between the leaders of the two nations at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit later this week, and the COP28 global climate conference in late November.
In a joint statement, they declared the climate crisis “one of the greatest challenges of our time” and stressed their commitment to meeting the target established by the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, which aimed to limit the increase of global temperatures to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
To achieve this, the two countries said they would accelerate renewable energy deployment in their economies until the end of 2030 to speed up the substitution for coal, oil and gas and triple renewable energy capacity globally by 2030.
The relaunched working group is also expected to focus on key areas of cooperation, including abating methane and boosting efficiency and the circular economy, and exchange information on policies and technologies to reduce emissions.
The two sides also promised to work together to curb forest loss and plastic pollution.
“The United States and China recognise that the climate crisis has increasingly affected countries around the world,” the statement said. “They will work together ... to rise up to one of the greatest challenges of our time for present and future generations of humankind.”
China and the US – the two largest polluters in the world – first formed the climate working group in 2021. However, the visit of former House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan in the summer of 2022 drove a wedge between the two nations and left the group at a standstill.
The statement marks the first time China has officially stated its intent to control the release of all greenhouse gas emissions, not just carbon dioxide.
Li Shuo, director of the China Climate Hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said China’s pledge to set release targets for all greenhouse gas emissions was arguably the most notable point in the statement.
“The US-China talks will help stabilise the politics when countries meet [at COP28] in the UAE, but critical issues such as fossil fuel phase-out still require much political effort,” he added. “China also needs to consider what further ambition can be brought to the COP. Stopping the approval of new coal power projects is a good next step.”
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