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China surprises at COP26 with a promise to work with the US.

2021-11-11T03:19:56.932Z


The US and China surprised everyone at COP26 on Wednesday, announcing a deal to increase their climate ambitions.


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(CNN) - The

United States and China stunned at the COP26 summit on Wednesday, when representatives from both countries announced an agreement to increase their climate ambitions, days before the end of the conference in Glasgow.

"There are more coincidences than differences between the United States and China, so it is an area of ​​great potential for cooperation," Xie Zhenhua told a news conference in China's climate envoy. "The publication of this joint statement shows again that cooperation is the only option for both China and the United States. Working together, our two countries can achieve very important things that are beneficial not only for our two countries, but for the world. as a whole, "he added.

Xie did not commit China to the Global Pledge on Methane, led by the United States and the European Union, which requires signatories to cut methane emissions by about a third.

He also did not commit the country to any other major international agreement, stating that China wanted to have "differentiated" responsibilities.

  • The United States and China are the world's largest greenhouse gas emitters.

    But who is worse?

However, Xie said that China intends to develop its own national plan for methane.

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"In terms of methane, the United States announced ... an action plan, and China intends to develop a national plan on methane, and will also encourage and enhance cooperation on methane measurement and mitigation," he said Xie.

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He added that the United States and China are "committed to making our cooperation more concrete and pragmatic and based on institutes and mechanisms," and said both countries intend to establish a working group on improving climate action in the 2020s.

Summit between Biden and Xi Jinping nears

At a conference immediately after Xie's speech, US special envoy for the climate, John Kerry, said he was "pleased" by the agreement between the two countries.

"The steps we are taking, we believe, can answer questions about the rate at which China is going and help China and the United States and others to be able to accelerate their efforts," Kerry said.

Kerry said the US and China had two options: They could walk away from COP26 without working together and leaving "the world wondering where the future is going to be, clearly with a gap."

"Or we can get out of here with people working together to increase ambition and start moving down a better path," Kerry said.

"That is really the choice," he added.

Kerry added that President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold a virtual summit soon, and that their team is busy preparing for that event.

Kerry said he first spoke with Chinese climate envoy Xie Zhenhua in February after Biden took office, and the talks have continued for months.

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Earlier this Wednesday, the COP26 presidency released a draft agreement for the summit, which says the world should aim to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and recognizes the role of fossil fuels in the climate crisis, what would be a first at the annual summit.

Xie did not directly respond to a question about whether China would support the full COP26 draft agreement, although he had earlier said that the country adheres to the Paris Agreement goal of containing global warming to 2 degrees Celsius, but preferably 1, 5 degrees.

Chinese officials have said for months that they would not support any change in the Paris Agreement's targets on rising temperatures.

The refusal of the US and China at COP26

China, the world's largest coal consumer, did not sign a statement at COP26 committing to phase out the use of coal.

The United States and India also declined to sign.

These countries are the three largest emitters in the world and the largest consumers of coal.

When asked if China would push forward its date for hitting its maximum greenhouse gas emissions, which is currently set for before 2030, Kerry said US officials believe that China may have reached its maximum emissions and that it will have stabilized.

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"President Xi has set a time frame for when he thinks they can peak, and we have had a lot of talks about the peak," Kerry said.

"What we wanted was to make sure that when China started that process that it has accepted in its announced plan, that we could try to accelerate and China accepted that they would do their best to accelerate the phase-down work."

The tense relationship between the United States and China has hampered the success of previous climate negotiations.

The two nations limited the success of the Kyoto Protocol, which preceded the 2015 Paris Agreement. China was not required to join as a developing country, and the United States refused to sign if China did not.

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2021-11-11

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