US and China “ready to cooperate” ahead of climate summit – We Are Here MX

The United States and China, opposed on multiple fronts, pledged on Saturday (04.17.2021) to “cooperate” on climate change, before the summit on the subject organized by Joe Biden.

Both countries “are committed to cooperating with each other and with other countries to address the climate crisis with the seriousness and urgency that it demands,” they said in a statement signed by the US climate envoy, John Kerry, and his Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenhua. .

The two countries said they are “anxiously awaiting” the virtual summit organized by Biden between Thursday and Friday, although the text does not say whether Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the meeting.

The US administration will open the meeting by revealing what it has announced as a new plan with ambitious targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Meanwhile, he exhibits a common line with his great Chinese rival.

Text released Saturday lists multiple avenues for 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 declare “the strengthening of their respective actions and cooperation in multilateral processes, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement.”

Kerry, the former chief of US diplomacy, was the first official in President Biden’s administration to visit China, raising hope that the two sides can work together on the global challenge despite soaring tensions on other fronts.

From his first day in the Oval Office, Biden arranged for the United States to return to the Paris Agreement, reversing the decision to abandon it from his predecessor, Donald Trump, a climate change skeptic.

The 2015 Paris accord, which Kerry negotiated when he was secretary of state, committed nations to take steps to keep temperature increases no more than two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.