China and US reach late climate agreement

CHINA and the US made a last-minute deal yesterday on the sidelines of Cop26 to cooperate on climate change to help claim success at the summit.

The deal could unlock difficult negotiations toward a successful conclusion to the summit, which Boris Johnson said was hanging “in the balance”.

It included pledges from China on tackling methane and deforestation, a joint recognition of the “seriousness and urgency of the climate crisis” and to cut emissions in the next 10 years, but had little detailed policy.

The move was seen as an attempt by the two powers to claim a role in the last days of the summit, during which action from both has been lacking.

“The two largest economies in the world have agreed to work together to raise climate ambition in this decisive decade,” John Kerry, the US climate envoy, said. The deal came hours after the UK released its draft text for the final agreement at the end of the summit, calling for big polluters including China to return with more ambitious climate plans next year, and for a phaseout of fossil fuel subsidies and coal.

Mr Johnson made a brief, last-minute visit to Glasgow yesterday to rally the final days of talks, due to end tomorrow but expected to run into the weekend.

“We need to pull out all the stops, if we’re going to do what we came here to do, and keep 1.5C alive,” the Prime Minister said. “If we fail to deliver, the backlash from people will be immense and it will be long-lasting and frankly, we will deserve their criticism.”

But he added: “The Cop26 summit here in Glasgow is not going to fix climate change in one go. We’re not going to arrest climate change right here, right now.” Getting countries to return as soon as next year with updated plans to cut emissions before 2030 is seen as one of the best ways to limit warming, but is likely to prove controversial with major emitters.

The text will go through several revisions before a final document is released over the weekend, when it will become more clear whether the UK Government has achieved its aims at the summit to “keep 1.5C alive”.

One veteran observer of the talks said the joint China-us deal would help to reach a final agreement at the talks because it would prevent Beijing blocking significant elements of the text.

The countries have criticised each other throughout the summit, with President Joe Biden saying that Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, had made a “big mistake” by not attending.