China and the United States have concluded a “joint statement on strengthening climate action,” Chinese climate envoy Xie Zhenhua said on Wednesday in Glasgow, Scotland.
“Both parties recognize the gap between current efforts and the Paris Agreement goals, so we will jointly strengthen climate action,” the Chinese official told reporters at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow. .
The deal “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 issue.
On Twitter, the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, present in Glasgow, welcomed this agreement in which he sees “an important step in the right direction”.
” Responsibility “
China is the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, while the United States is 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 ” turned its back ”on the climate crisis.
“As two major 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 COP26 is considered crucial, while the world is, 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 American envoy for the climate, John Kerry, welcomed this “roadmap” intended to define “the way in which we will limit warming and work together to raise climate ambitions. “.
In the text posted online, the two countries pledge to work at COP26 for “an ambitious, balanced and inclusive outcome on mitigation. [baisse des émissions], adaptation and financial support.
More generally, they commit to “taking reinforced measures to raise ambitions during the 2020s”, by reaffirming their attachment to the temperature objectives of the Paris Agreement.
The Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, also welcomed the announcement. “Beyond the COP, it’s important for the world,” he told AFP.
“If the United States and China, with all the difficulties they have on other issues, send a message that this issue transcends others, that it is about the survival of mankind, it helps the world immensely. international community to accept the fact that we must act now ”, he added, noting however that there was“ a lot of work to be done ”to reach an agreement at the COP26.