China is the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases and the United States is the second
China and the United States have concluded a “joint declaration on strengthening climate action,” Chinese climate envoy Xie Zhenhua announced Wednesday in Glasgow (UK).
“Both sides recognize the gap between current efforts and the Paris Agreement goals, so we will jointly strengthen climate action,” the Chinese official told the press at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow. , in Scotland.
The agreement “shows that cooperation is the only way for China and the United States,” Xie said, as tensions between the two countries recently seemed to spill over into the climate diplomacy file.
In a Tweet, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, present in Glasgow, welcomed this agreement in which he sees “an important step in the right direction”.
China is the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases and the United States is the second.
US President Joe Biden, who came to Glasgow at the start of the conference last week, called the absence at COP26 of his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping a “big mistake”, accusing him of having “shot the back “to the climate crisis.
“As the two main world powers, China and the United States must take responsibility for working together and with other parties to combat climate change,” the Chinese envoy said.
The Glasgow climate conference is considered crucial, as the world finds itself according to the UN on a “catastrophic” trajectory of warming to + 2.7 ° C compared to the pre-industrial era, well beyond the objectives of the Paris agreement which aims for a limited warming “well below” 2 ° C and if possible at 1.5 ° C.
Speaking shortly after his counterpart, the US climate envoy John Kerry welcomed this “roadmap” intended to define “how we are going to limit global warming and work together to raise climate ambitions”.
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