Image source,EPA
Protesters from various countries have been asking world leaders to make a firmer commitment to climate change.
At the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, China and the United States agreed to strengthen climate cooperation in the next ten years, a move that was unexpected.
In this joint statement, the two largest carbon dioxide emitters in the world pledged to take action.
The statement stated that the two parties will “review their firm commitment to work together” to achieve the 1.5 degrees Celsius target set in the 2015 Paris Agreement.
The two countries call for further efforts to narrow the “huge gap” that still exists between the achievement and the goal.
Scientists say that limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5C will help humans avoid the most serious climate impacts. This is compared with the temperature before human industrialization.
In Paris in 2015, world leaders promised to make the world‘s temperature rise no more than 1.5 degrees to 2 degrees through comprehensive emission reductions.
Image source,Reuters
China’s chief climate negotiator Xie Zhenhua said that the United States and China have held more than 30 virtual meetings.
Activists and politicians cautiously welcomed this unexpected China-US statement.
The European Union and the United Nations think this is encouraging and an important step, but Greenpeace said the two countries need to show more commitment.
The outside reaction to this unexpected agreement has been largely positive, but experts and activists have warned that concrete actions must now be taken to fulfill these promises.
Genevieve Maricle, the director of WWF’s U.S. Climate Policy Action, said the announcement brings “new hope” to the world‘s 1.5-degree temperature rise limit.
But she added, “We must also clearly understand what is needed if the two countries are to achieve the necessary emission reductions in the next nine years.”
Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (Kevin Rudd) is the chairman of the Asia Society dedicated to a global climate change agreement. He told the BBC that it was not an agreement to bring about disruptive changes, but it was a big step forward.
Kevin Rudd said, “The current geopolitical situation between China and the United States is very bad, so you can now reach this kind of agreement between Washington and Beijing… The agreement is (very important)”.
Xie Zhenhua, China’s top climate negotiator, told reporters that on climate change, “there is more consensus than disagreement between China and the United States.”
US President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to hold a virtual summit as early as next week. The United States and China are diametrically opposed to each other on multiple issues.
In this unexpected joint statement, the two sides agreed to cooperate on a range of issues, including methane emissions, the transition to clean energy, and decarbonization.
But China refused to join the agreement reached earlier this week to limit methane, which is a harmful greenhouse gas. Nearly 100 other countries have signed this agreement. China has pledged to formulate a “national plan” to solve the methane problem.
After Xie Zhenhua, U.S. climate envoy Kerry said that “there is no lack of differences between the United States and China, but on climate issues, cooperation is the only way to accomplish this work”.
He said, “Every step now is very important, and there will be a long journey waiting for us.”
The significance of this statement may be glimpsed from the last part of its title-a joint statement on strengthening climate action in the 2020s.
If the world wants to maintain the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold, then measures to limit carbon emissions in the next nine years will be the top priority.
Although China has been reluctant to solve its domestic coal emissions problem in the short term, this statement shows the urgency of the country’s approval of the action.
Therefore, agreed actions on methane, forests and technology transfer have important symbolic significance, and they also have potential significance in terms of emissions.
Image source,Reuters
US climate envoy John Kerry stated that “cooperation is the only way to accomplish this work.”
The agreement also expresses a consensus between the two parties that there is a huge gap between the efforts that countries have made so far to limit emissions and what science says is required for a safer world.
Closing this gap means that countries have to reach a strong agreement in Glasgow.
Regardless of the content, the visual effect and timing of this statement will definitely bring a boost.
Greenpeace International Executive Director Jennifer Morgan (Jennifer Morgan) welcomed the statement between China and the United States, but warned that the two countries need to show greater commitment to achieving climate goals.
She said: “In the end, their statement did not meet the call of climate-vulnerable countries, which requires countries to return to the negotiating table with greater ambitions every year until the 1.5 degrees Celsius gap is narrowed.”
Frans Timmermans, head of EU climate policy, said it was “really encouraging” to see China and the United States working together.
“It also shows that the United States and China know that this issue transcends other issues. This certainly helps us reach an agreement at the COP.”
Image source,AFP
The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the announcement was “an important step in the right direction.”
COP26 is the largest climate change conference since the landmark meeting held in Paris in 2015. About 200 countries have been asked to provide their plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, which will cause global warming.
Last week, US President Joe Biden criticized Chinese President Xi Jinping for not attending the summit in person.
Mr. Biden said, “In fact, China is trying to play a new role in the world, understandable, but it didn’t show up, please,” he added that Xi Jinping’s absence was a “big mistake”.
China is the world‘s largest emitter of carbon dioxide, followed by the United States. In September, Xi Jinping announced that China will achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 and plans to reach its peak emissions by 2030. The United States’ goal is to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.