“We have the choice instead to move forward with what President Biden has called stiff competition where we are going to compete vigorously across multiple dimensions,” Sullivan said in a virtual lecture hosted by the Lowy Institute in Sydney. “There is no reason that that competition has to turn into conflict or confrontation, and that is what responsibly and collectively we need to manage,” he added.
The two countries reaffirmed the temperature goals of the Paris accord, which has a stretch target of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, and recognized there is a gap between current policies and what needs to be done, Xie said. Both are committed to pushing for a successful COP26, including agreements on climate finance and rules to create a global carbon market, he said.
Still, China declined to join the global pledge being pushed by the U.S. and the European Union to cut methane emissions 30% by the end of the decade from 2020 levels. Xie said China will develop its own national plan. Kerry admitted that he had failed to get China to move its deadline for reaching peak emissions earlier from 2030. “We've peaked out on peaking,” he said.
As the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, China can do more than any other country right now to help the world avoid the worst effects of global warming. But it argues that its plan to reach carbon neutrality by 2060 will already be the most ambitious emissions reduction ever attempted.
“It can only be good news that the U.S. and China are working closely on climate change and slashing methane emissions,” said Bernice Lee, research director at Chatham House. “But the statement is not enough to close the deal. The real test of Washington and Beijing is how hard they push for a 1.5°C-aligned deal here in Glasgow.”