Willie R. Tubbs, FISM News
The United States and China have pledged to partner in an effort to lower greenhouse emissions according to a joint statement yesterday.
The agreement was announced by U.S. presidential envoy John Kerry in a press conference from Glasgow at the COP26 climate talks. Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin confirmed the agreement in his regular press conference Thursday.
The agreement took the form of a framework, but Yahoo! Quoted Kerry as saying it, “includes strong statements about the alarming science, the emissions gap and the urgent need to accelerate the actions to close that gap.”
Kerry also said the agreement called for each nation to reduce its methane emissions and “to phase down unabated coal in this decade as fast as is achievable.”
This is the third time this year that the U.S. and China have issued a joint statement on climate change. The nations had made previous commitments to work together on climate issues in April and September.
“Since the beginning of this year, China and the US have held intensive dialogues and consultations on climate change in accordance with the spirit and instructions of the telephone conversation between the two heads of state,” Wang said. “The joint declaration is the product of candid exchanges, mutual understanding, mutual respect and active efforts to expand consensus between the two sides.
“This shows once again that China and the US can work together on major international issues, and accomplish many great things that benefit the people of both countries and the world through cooperation, and inject positive energy into the multilateral processes,” Wang stated.
The announcement came on the heels of strident criticism from President Joe Biden, who last week knocked China and Russia for not sending their heads of state to a climate summit in Scotland.
Yahoo!, though, reports that Kerry and members of a sizable Chinese delegation had been meeting often during the summit, which led to the agreement.
Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet next week.