As the final fraught hours of the Cop28 UN climate summit approached last December, a small but vital meeting was missing from the official agenda. While thousands of grumpy delegates trooped the vast and glitzy Dubai venue, a private gathering in a quiet corner marked a joyful milestone. John Kerry, the US presidential envoy for climate, celebrated his 80th birthday, and guest of honour was his 74-year-old Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenhua. It was a warm and familial occasion: even Xie’s eight-year-old grandson was present. “Why are you still working so…
Tag: John Kerry
Cop28: China ‘would like to see agreement to substitute renewables for fossil fuels’
China would like to see nations agree to substitute renewable energy for fossil fuels, the country’s chief climate official has said, as nations wrangled over the weekend on the wording of a deal on the climate crisis. Xie Zhenhua, China’s climate envoy, would not be explicit on whether China supported or opposed a phase-out of fossil fuels, which more than 100 governments are pushing for at crucial climate talks, the Cop28 UN summit. But he did indicate that he and his delegation were engaging positively to try to find a…
Who’s who at Cop28: the leaders with the world’s future in their hands
Cop28 officially opens on 30 November in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, and the conference is scheduled to end on 14 December, although is likely to run later. World leaders will attend the world climate action summit segment on 1 and 2 December and after they depart the crunch negotiations will be done by their representatives, environment ministers or other high-ranking officials. Sultan Al Jaber, Cop28 president Sultan Al Jaber. Photograph: Kamran Jebreili/AP Sultan Al Jaber, the president-designate of Cop28, is minister for advanced technology in the government of…
John Kerry in China: climate crisis must be separated from politics
John Kerry has said climate change is a “universal threat” and has to be separated from politics during talks between the US and China. Kerry, the US climate envoy and former secretary of state, is in Beijing for talks with senior Chinese officials. The talks are hoped to repair relations between two sides – the world’s two largest economies and carbon emitters – before the COP28 climate talks in Dubai at the end of the year. On Wednesday he met with vice-president Han Zheng, saying in public remarks that the…
John Kerry aims to put China tensions aside at crucial climate talks
John Kerry, the US climate envoy, has called for more rapid action to confront the climate crisis in a crucial visit to China that is taking place against a fraught backdrop, with both countries currently baking under record heatwaves and Kerry facing hostile opposition from Republicans back home. Kerry’s meeting with Xie Zhenhua, his Chinese counterpart, for three days of formal talks in Beijing is the first substantive summit between the world’s two largest carbon emitters on the climate crisis since relations were frozen last August, when Nancy Pelosi, the…
US climate envoy meets Chinese counterpart on hottest ever day in China
A remote township in China’s western Xinjiang region has set a nationwide temperature record of 52.2C, as the US climate envoy, John Kerry, held meetings with his Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenhua, in Beijing. The temperature was reached on Sunday at Sanbao township in the Turpan Depression, the China Meteorological Administration said in a statement. It broke a previous record of 50.6C, set in July 2017, the CMA said. Sanbao lies on the outskirts of the city of Turpan, where authorities have told workers and students to stay at home and…
China and US renew commitment to tackling climate crisis but differences remain
China and the US have renewed their partnership to tackle the climate crisis, and are working closely and productively on ways of bringing down greenhouse gas emissions, China’s head of delegation has said. The surprise news from Xie Zhenhua, who briefed a small group of journalists at the Cop27 UN climate summit in Egypt on Saturday, comes as a rare moment of progress amid a conference mired in stalemate and bitter fighting between developed and developing countries. Xie said he and John Kerry, the US special presidential envoy for climate,…
The Guardian view on climate diplomacy: it’s crunch time – again | Editorial
Less than two weeks before Cop27 opens in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, an outline of what to expect from the negotiations is becoming more distinct. The issue of loss and damage is expected to dominate – as it should. Wealthy countries have broken the promise made in 2009 at Cop15 in Copenhagen. An annual climate finance budget of $100bn was agreed then to help the countries most dangerously exposed to global heating. But contributions have fallen short. The group of countries known as the V20, which includes the…
Republicans Say Kerry Is Lobbying Against Slave Labor Bill
X Story Stream recent articles President Biden, with the full support of the Democratic Party, has committed this country to defending human rights around the world and addressing climate change. Although these are not competing goals, they are not necessarily reinforcing. Last week, John Kerry announced plans to visit China to continue carbon emissions negotiations, a task fitting the Biden administration’s designated envoy on climate change. But some Republican lawmakers are demanding to know if Kerry has been quietly lobbying against anti-slave labor legislation in Washington to secure diplomatic breathing…