Edition: English | 中文简体 | 中文繁体 Монгол
Homepage > China Video

China, US climate negotiators meet in Beijing

CCTV.com

08-30-2016 10:26 BJT

Full coverage: G20 Hangzhou Summit

As leaders from the G20 nations prepare to travel to Hangzhou, Chinese and US climate negotiators have met and held talks in Beijing. Both nations are hoping to show even greater momentum in tackling climate change, which is a key topic at the G20 summit.

U.S. top climate negotiator, Brian Deese and China's Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli meeting ahead of U.S. President Obama's visit to Beijing on his way to the G20 summit- Both nations aim to implement the Paris climate accord as soon as possible and tackle emissions from air travel and others sources.

It was Vice Premier Zhang who signed the Paris climate accord for China at the United Nations in April but the world may not have gotten there had China and the U.S. not joined forces back in November 2014.

At a ground breaking meeting in Beijing, both president's Xi and Obama agreed on a joint approach to curbing climate change and both countries made ambitious pledges.

"The United States intends to achieve an economy-wide target of reducing its emissions by 26%-28% below its 2005 level in 2025 and to make best efforts to reduce its emissions by 28%. China intends to achieve the peaking of CO2 emissions around 2030 and to make best efforts to peak early and intends to increase the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to around 20% by 2030."

China-U.S. Joint Announcement on Climate Change
Beijing, China, 12 November 2014

That momentum helped secure the Paris climate deal last year - the two leading greenhouse gas emitters have since signed the agreement and are set to announce implementation- world leaders traveling to Hangzhou are seeing global push on the issue driven by Beijing and Washington.

"Where the greatest emissions are coming from are the three largest emitters, the United States, the European Union and China. I am extremely encouraged by those three areas - the European Union has been a leader for years, China's making very bold moves to reduce their carbon emissions, and in the United States the President, Obama, has taken very bold leadership in this country as well," WB president Jim Yong Kim said.

For China, the G20 meeting comes as the country is set to role out an ambitious carbon trading system which aims to apply market forces to cutting emissions- a big push towards clean coal and renewables means China may actually beat it's targets- the U.S. too is pushing many initiatives but has political challenges from politicians who do not recognize the climate change threat.

Evidence of that change can be seen everywhere from the coral in Australia's Great Barrier Reef- to the melting Artic, and perhaps the recent flooding in the U.S. state of Louisiana.

And here in Washington, D.C., the temperatures this summer have been breaking records - and globally, 2016 may well be the hottest year on record-harsh reminders that even though the world's two biggest emitters are the two most committed to combatting climate change - it is still a race against time.

Follow us on

  • Please scan the QR Code to follow us on Instagram

  • Please scan the QR Code to follow us on Wechat