Opposed on multiple issues, the United States and China managed to find common ground on Saturday, April 17, on the subject of the fight against climate change. “The United States and China pledge to cooperate with each other and with other countries to tackle the climate crisis, which must be treated with the seriousness and urgency it demands”, wrote, in a joint statement, the American envoy John Kerry (visiting Shanghai) and his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua.
The text lists the multiple avenues of cooperation between the world’s two largest economies, which together account for nearly half of the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change. Washington and Beijing say “Strengthening their respective actions and cooperation in multilateral processes, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement”.
According to Saturday’s statement, Washington and Beijing “Intend to develop” their long-term strategies to achieve carbon neutrality by the Scottish summit (in November).
Other short-term measures include strengthening “International investments and financing” to support the transition to green energy in developing countries, as well as the phase-out of the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons, gases mainly used in refrigeration, air conditioners and aerosols.
Longer-term actions to be taken in the 2020s to maintain the temperature rise agreed in the Paris Agreement ” at hand “ include reducing emissions from industry and power generation, scaling up renewable energy, clean transportation, and climate resilient agriculture.
A priority for the Biden administration
Mr. Kerry was the first administration official of President Joe Biden to visit China. The visit was a sign of hope that the two sides could work together on the global challenge of climate change, despite glaring tensions over several other issues – such as China’s policy in Hong Kong, the treatment of Uyghurs in the country. Xinjiang and the Taiwan Question.
The Democratic president has made the climate a top priority, taking the opposite view of his predecessor Donald Trump, a supporter of the fossil fuel industry and who had brought the United States out of the Paris Agreement.
He is also organizing a virtual international environmental summit on Thursday and Friday, bringing together 40 world leaders at this event. China and the United States “Look forward to” this summit, the joint statement states, even if the text does not say whether Chinese President Xi Jinping will participate.
“We very much hope that he will participate”Mr. Kerry told reporters from Seoul, where he later visited. “Of course, each country will make its own decisions. We are not trying to force anyone. We are looking for cooperation. “
Joe Biden made Washington reconnect with the Paris Agreement, signed in 2015, which was negotiated by John Kerry, then Secretary of State to President Barack Obama. The Paris Agreement commits signatory nations to take action to keep temperature rises no more than two degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels.
