US-China joint climate action back on track, hours ahead of Xi-Biden meeting in San Francisco

Identical statements issued separately set out joint goals in climate change battle, including landmark methane pledge from China but none on dirty coal

Climate alignment ‘very important’ despite lack of breakthroughs, observer says, given the ‘challenging political situation’ between the rival powers

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The resumption of US-China climate cooperation follows months of efforts from special envoys John Kerry and Xie Zhenhua. Photo: Reuters

Published: 8:42pm, 15 Nov 2023Updated: 10:23pm, 15 Nov 2023

China and the United States pledged to renew climate cooperation and step up joint action to combat global warming just hours ahead of a high-stakes leadership summit, fuelling hopes that the rival superpowers could still work together to tackle global challenges.

In identical statements issued separately on Wednesday, the two countries agreed to relaunch a working group on climate cooperation, “pursue efforts to triple renewable energy capacity globally by 2030” and “accelerate the substitution for coal, oil and gas generation”.

The world’s top two carbon emitters also agreed to include methane in their respective 2035 emission-cutting plans – the first time China has made such a pledge – and work together to control other non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gas emissions, as well as curb forest loss and plastic pollution.

The statements follow four days of talks last week between China’s special climate envoy Xie Zhenhua and his US counterpart John Kerry at the Sunnylands estate in California.

Climate experts have welcomed the agreements, despite the absence of any pledge from China to phase out dirty coal or the building of new coal power plants.