The intense levels of dialogue between the two countries on climate can now translate into practical cooperation.
The PRC delegation at COP26. Credit: UN Climate Change
Within a week of President Joe Biden’s inauguration, his new climate envoy John Kerry established two clear conditions for a renewed relationship with China on climate change. First, the U.S. wanted climate to be treated as a “standalone” issue in the relationship, untethered to disagreements elsewhere. Second, Kerry insisted that China demonstrate its willingness to do more this decade to reduce emissions. In other words, the U.S. wanted to avoid cooperating simply for the sake of it — without any national or planetary dividend.
With the surprise release at COP26 in November of the U.S.-China Joint Glasgow Declaration on Enhancing Climate Action in the 2020s, a potentially robust pathway for Kerry’s second condition to be satisfied has been set out. And on the first, the U.S. hopes reason will continue to prevail in Beijing, notwithstanding the potential topsy-turvy year ahead for the broader bilateral relationship.
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