U.S. special climate envoy John Kerry speaks during a joint China and U.S. statement on a declaration enhancing climate action in the 2020s at the COP26 climate change conference on Nov. 10, 2021. Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — The world’s top two carbon polluters, China and the United States, pledged Wednesday to increase their cooperation on climate action in a joint declaration issued at U.N. climate talks in Glasgow.
In separate news conferences, Chinese climate envoy Xie Zhenhua and U.S. counterpart John Kerry said the two countries would work together to accelerate the emissions reductions required to meet the temperature goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.
“The whole point of this is that the steps we’re taking we believe can answer questions people have about the pace at which China is going and help China and us to be able to accelerate our efforts,” Kerry said.
Governments agreed in Paris to jointly reduce emissions enough to keep the global temperature rise “well below” 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times, with a more stringent target of trying to keep warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) preferred.
Both sides recognize that there is a gap between efforts taken globally to reduce emissions and the goals of the Paris deal, Xie said.
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