Kerry in China to hold talks on climate

US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry was scheduled to arrive in China yesterday for talks and will be in the country until September 3, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment said yesterday.

China Special Envoy for Climate Change Xie Zhenhua will hold discussions with Kerry in Tianjin on topics including the Sino-US climate change cooperation and the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Kerry will hope to build on commitments secured during a visit in April that the country will work urgently to curb climate change.

China has set a goal to reach carbon neutrality by 2060. It has also pledged to “enhance ambition” on curbing climate change, and is set to announce new measures before the end of the year.

Before heading to China, Kerry held talks in Tokyo yesterday with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and other officials on cooperation on carbon emissions and cutting support for fossil fuels.

The former secretary of state has led US efforts to urge the acceleration of efforts to curb carbon emissions. The US push comes in advance of the UN COP26 climate conference, which will be held in Scotland in November.

Kerry first met with Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and in public comments before the closed-door portion of their meeting he briefly discussed Japan’s more strict emissions targets.

In April, Japan nearly doubled its target for emissions cuts by 2030 to a reduction of 46 percent from 2012 levels in response to pressure from the United States and some of its own firms, after pledging last year to attain carbon neutrality by 2050.

Suga has said Japan will try to push the reduction as high as 50 percent to be in line with the European Union.

In order to achieve that target, Japan’s Environment Ministry is seeking a significant budget increase to promote renewable energy and decarbonizing programs.