China, US Announce Cooperation on Climate Crisis

China and the US issued a joint statement on April 16, in which both sides “committed to cooperating with each other and with other countries to tackle the climate crisis,” according to a statement issued after China's special envoy for climate change Xie Zhenhua talked with his US counterpart John Kerry in Shanghai.

The two sides noted the “seriousness and urgency” of tackling the climate crisis, and agreed to cooperate under the terms of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement.

The Paris climate agreement aims to control the global temperature rise to below 2 C, with 1.5 C the preferred target.

China and the US will make joint efforts to reduce emissions, and before the COP 26 meeting in Glasgow, UK, which starts on November 1, will produce long-term strategies on carbon neutrality and net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases.

To realize the objectives, the two sides agreed on eight areas of discussion, including developing decarbonization technologies, increasing the use of renewable energies, and promoting environmentally friendly agriculture, buildings and transportation.

The two nations vowed to reduce the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons, which are used in synthetic refrigerants that are also greenhouse gasses, as laid out under the terms of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.