Christine Loh

Opinion | In brokering US-China climate cooperation, Xie Zhenhua and John Kerry deserve much credit

In 2014, Xie Zhenhua and John Kerry worked on a US-China climate statement and rallied others to sign the Paris Agreement

The two sides have identified the many areas where collaboration is desirable and important, including on emerging technologies

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Many mutually beneficial deals could be made soon, such as Chinese sales of solar panels to the US, and US sales of natural gas to China, as both countries move away from coal and towards renewable energy. Photo: Shutterstock

Christine Loh

Published: 1:30am, 10 May 2021Updated: 12:07pm, 19 May 2021

China and the United States are keeping the door open for further cooperation that could include technology, industry, trade and more – albeit packaged under the urgent need to tackle climate change.

Their joint statement, released on April 17 in Shanghai, provides for the two countries to “continue to discuss … concrete actions in the 2020s” to reduce climate-warming emissions over a wide range of activities.

These include power generation, energy storage, grid reliability, carbon capture, green hydrogen, renewable energy deployment, green agriculture, energy-efficient buildings, low-carbon transport, as well as aviation and shipping.

The two sides have identified the many areas where cooperation is desirable and important for the world’s two biggest greenhouse gas emitters. These areas include emerging technologies, such as in batteries, carbon capture and zero-carbon fuels where Sino-US collaboration could greatly advance research, development, finance and deployment worldwide.

Moreover, the reference to taking action in “the 2020s” shows the US wants accomplishments soon since the Biden administration faces an election in four years, and China needs to significantly reduce its coal consumption this decade to achieve its goal of peaking its carbon emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060.

The pace of cooperation has picked up, and more could be expected this year.

Opinion | In brokering US-China climate cooperation, Xie Zhenhua and John Kerry deserve much credit

In 2014, Xie Zhenhua and John Kerry worked on a US-China climate statement and rallied others to sign the Paris Agreement The two sides have identified the many areas where collaboration is desirable and important, including on emerging technologies

In 2014, Xie Zhenhua and John Kerry worked on a US-China climate statement and rallied others to sign the Paris Agreement

The two sides have identified the many areas where collaboration is desirable and important, including on emerging technologies