Climate Envoy John Kerry Held Talks In China About Climate

U.S. climate envoy held talks with his Chinese counterpart in Beijing last Monday. This is part of the U.S. plans to continue relations with China after disputes over trade, Taiwan, human rights, and China’s territorial claims.

Kerry met with Xie Zhenhua for an extensive climate discussion. Both the U.S. and China are the worst climate polluters in the world.

China is the largest producer and consumer of coal and has set the goal of fully decarbonizing by 2060. The country has focused on building renewal plants but also new coal plants.

The U.S. and the European Union have urged China to adopt more ambitious reduction targets. Still, China maintains that it is still a developing country and should not be expected to hold the same standards as developed economies.

The European Union, along the U.S. and China have experienced records in high temperatures, risking people’s health and threatening crops.

Kerry is expected to push for a reduction in China’s emissions and to set decarbonizing goals in shorter periods of time.“What we’re trying to do is find ways we can cooperate to actually address the crisis” of climate, Kerry said according to an article by the Associated Press. “[China] is critical to our being able to solve this problem.”