New US and China climate envoys, seeking show of progress, meet for first time in Washington

Bilateral working group sessions meant to build on agreements reached last year and restore top-level engagement as pledged at Xi-Biden summit

Potential outcomes might focus on areas beyond ‘geostrategic conflict’ such as collaboration on methane reduction, analyst says

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John Podesta, a former White House chief of staff, is co-chairing bilateral working group meetings on climate change with China’s special envoy Liu Zhenmin. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 6:50am, 9 May 2024Updated: 6:35pm, 9 May 2024

The freshly appointed climate envoys from the US and China are convening for their inaugural face-to-face discussions in Washington this week, seeking to show some progress on an issue that both sides often claim should be free of the rancour that has kept them far apart on other fronts.

As per announcements from both sides, China’s special envoy Liu Zhenmin and White House senior adviser John Podesta are co-chairing bilateral working group meetings on Wednesday and Thursday to build on agreements made by their predecessors in November.

This session will focus on topics previously highlighted by John Kerry, former US special presidential envoy for climate, and Xie Zhenhua, former Chinese special envoy for climate change, during discussions in Sunnylands, California, in November.

Analysts said the effort was significant more for its fulfilment of pledges by Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Joe Biden to rebuild regular top-level engagement, made during their summit in November last year, than for specific achievements that the talks are likely to yield.

Jennifer Turner, director of the China Environment Forum at the Wilson Centre, a Washington-based think tank, characterised the meeting as “getting back together”.

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