U.S., China agree to step up fight against climate change
The United States and China, the world’s two largest carbon emission producing countries, have agreed to step up cooperation in the fight against climate change as part of the Glasgow Climate Summit.
US President Joe Biden’s Special Envoy for Climate John Kerry and his Chinese counterpart Shi Zhenhua announced the terms agreed upon by the two countries at a summit in Scotland.
A joint statement from the two countries shared by Washington said the United States and China welcomed the efforts on climate change but acknowledged that there is a significant gap between what needs to be done to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement and the existing efforts.
The statement outsized the issues the two sides plan to cooperate on:
“establishing regulatory frameworks and environmental standards for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the 2020s; maximize the social benefits of clean energy transition; to produce policies to reduce carbon emissions and encourage the use of electricity, to establish key areas related to the circular economy, such as green design and renewable resource use, to deploy and implement technologies such as direct air capture.”
“The United States has set a goal of achieving 100 percent electricity without carbon pollution by 2035. China will reduce its coal consumption under the five-year plan and will do its best to accelerate this work,” the statement said.
The agreement jointly commits $100 billion in aid each year to meet the climate needs of developing countries, the joint statement said.
