US, China adopt joint declaration on climate change

The US and China have adopted a joint declaration at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, US special climate envoy John F. Kerry said at an online press conference, Report informs referring to The Washington Post.

The US and China will work together to slow global warming during this decade and ensure that the Glasgow talks result in meaningful progress.

The world’s two biggest greenhouse gas emitters said they would take “enhanced climate actions” to meet the central goals of the 2015 Paris climate accord - limiting warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) beyond preindustrial levels, and if possible, not to exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius.

To try to keep those temperature limits “within reach,” Chinese and American leaders agreed to jointly “raise ambition in the 2020s” and said they would boost clean energy, combat deforestation and curb emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

“The United States and China have no shortage of differences,” John F. Kerry said. “But on climate, cooperation is the only way to get this job done.”

China and the United States, which together account for about 40% of the world’s emissions, are central to any international accord on climate change.

Kerry said that while many hurdles remain before anyone could declare the Glasgow summit a success, formal partnership with the Chinese can only help the chances that world leaders will choose solidarity.

“We could leave here not working together, the world wondering where the future is going to be,” he said. “Or we can leave here with people working together in order to raise the ambition and move down a better road.”