Heavy positive! Sino-US joint statement on climate crisis: increase deployment of renewable energy

According to news from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment on April 18, China`s Special Envoy for Climate Change Xie Zhenhua and the US President`s Special Envoy for Climate Issues John Kerry will hold talks in Shanghai on April 15-16, 2021, to discuss issues related to the climate crisis. After the meeting, the two parties issued a statement as follows:

1. China and the United States are committed to cooperating with each other and working with other countries to resolve the climate crisis, and respond in accordance with its severity and urgency. This includes strengthening their respective actions and cooperating in multilateral processes such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement. The two sides reviewed their leadership and cooperation in the field of climate change and made historic contributions to the formulation, adoption, signing and entry into force of the Paris Agreement.

2. Moving towards the future, China and the United States insist on joining hands and working with other parties to strengthen the implementation of the Paris Agreement. The two sides recalled that the purpose of Article 2 of the Paris Agreement was to control the global average temperature rise below 2°C and strive to limit it to 1.5°C. To this end, the two parties pledged to continue their efforts, including intensified actions in the 1920s under the framework of the Paris Agreement, so that the above-mentioned temperature rise limitation targets can be achieved, and to cooperate in identifying and responding to related challenges and opportunities.

3. Both countries look forward to the leadership climate summit hosted by the United States on April 22/23. Both sides agreed with the summit`s goal of raising global climate ambitions including mitigation, adaptation and support before the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Climate Convention in Glasgow.

4. China and the United States will take other short-term actions to further contribute to the solution of the climate crisis:

(1) Both countries plan to formulate their own long-term strategies to achieve carbon neutrality/net zero emissions of greenhouse gases before the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Climate Convention in Glasgow.

(2) The two countries plan to take appropriate actions to maximize international investment and financing to support developing countries' transition from high-carbon fossil energy to green, low-carbon and renewable energy.

(3) The two parties will respectively implement the measures to gradually reduce the production and consumption of HFCs as reflected in the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol.

5. China and the United States will continue to discuss specific emission reduction actions in the 2020s before and after the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Climate Convention, with the aim of achieving the temperature rise limitation targets in line with the Paris Agreement. include:

(1) Policies, measures and technologies for decarbonization in the industrial and power sectors, including recycling economy, energy storage and grid reliability, carbon capture, utilization and storage, and green hydrogen energy;

(2) Increase deployment of renewable energy;

(3) Green and climate resilient agriculture;

(4) Energy-saving buildings;

(5) Green and low-carbon transportation;

(6) Cooperation on non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gas emissions such as methane;

(7) Cooperation on emissions from international aviation and navigation activities;

(8) Other recent policies and measures, including reducing coal, oil, and gas emissions.

6. The two parties will cooperate to promote the success of the 26th Conference of the Parties to the Glasgow United Nations Climate Convention, which aims to complete the implementation rules of the Paris Agreement (such as Articles 6 and 13) and greatly improve the global climate including mitigation, adaptation, and support Ambition. The two sides will also cooperate to promote the success of the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity held in Kunming, noting the importance of the global biodiversity framework after 2020, including its relationship with climate mitigation and adaptation.