Tag: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

What a U.S.-China Climate Deal Means for COP28

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The United States and China announced an agreement on Tuesday evening to sharply increase clean energy, displace fossil fuels and reduce the emissions that are warming the planet. The deal comes at a pivotal moment for the United States, the biggest climate polluter in history, and China, currently the largest polluter. Together, they account for 38 percent of the world’s greenhouse gases. President Biden and President Xi Jinping of China are set to meet today. And in two weeks, representatives from nearly 200 countries will gather in Dubai as part…

U.S. and China Agree to Displace Fossil Fuels by Ramping Up Renewables

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The United States and China, the world’s two largest climate polluters, have agreed to jointly tackle global warming by ramping up wind, solar and other renewable energy with the goal of displacing fossil fuels, the State Department said Tuesday. The announcement comes as President Biden prepares to meet Wednesday with President Xi Jinping of China for their first face-to-face discussion in a year. The climate agreement could emerge as a bright spot in talks that are likely to focus on sensitive topics including Taiwan, the war in Ukraine and the…

China Is Winning in Solar Power, but Its Coal Use Is Raising Alarms

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China is installing about as many solar panels and wind turbines as the rest of the world combined, and is on track to meet its target for clean energy six years early. It is using renewables to meet nearly all of the growth in its electricity needs. Yet there is another side to that rapid expansion, one that is causing consternation in Washington at a critical period of climate diplomacy: China is also building new power plants that burn coal, the dirtiest of the fossil fuels, at a pace that…

U.S. and China Aren’t Invited to speak at U.N.’s Climate Ambition Summit

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The United Nations’ secretary general, António Guterres, convened a special summit on Wednesday in New York City designed to highlight the efforts of the most ambitious global leaders on climate policy — and to implicitly shame those who are dragging their feet. Mr. Guterres, who has made climate action a centerpiece of his agenda and has called on the world’s largest carbon emitters to rapidly shift away from burning fossil fuels, the main driver of global warming, pledged that only high-level leaders whom he sees as taking climate action seriously…

As U.S. and China Resume Climate Talks, Here’s Where Things Stand

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But she added, “The question is whether it is in a position to talk about phasing coal out faster.” Despite its enormous economy and emissions, China tries to position itself as a defender of the developing world. For nearly two decades, China has been the biggest national emitter, but its average pollution per person is lower than in most wealthy countries, and Beijing has long maintained that those nations should shoulder a greater burden in cutting greenhouse gases and financing global action. Mr. Xie and other officials are likely to…

John Kerry Plans to Meet With Biden to Discuss His Future as Climate Envoy

Chin@Strategy

John Kerry, President Biden’s climate envoy, was evasive when discussing his future on Wednesday, saying he had “no plans” to step down, but he would not say if he hoped to continue to represent the country in future global climate talks. Speaking from his Massachusetts home in his first interview since the United Nations climate summit last month in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, Mr. Kerry said he intended to talk with Mr. Biden next week “about the road ahead.” The midpoint in any administration is frequently a time of churn.…

Biden and Xi Break the Ice

Chin@Strategy

The leaders of the world’s 20 biggest economies are meeting this week in Indonesia. What they decide will go a long way toward shaping the global climate of the near future — and with it, the destiny of us all. The Group of 20 represents 80 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions warming the planet. The main headline: China and the U.S. are back on speaking terms. The White House announced that the United States and China would resume their climate talks. The news came after a three-and-a-half hour meeting…

With COP26, China’s Climate Policy Merits a Closer Look

Chin@Strategy

“Disappointing.” “A shadow on the global climate effort.” Even before the global climate summit in Glasgow got underway last week, environmental advocates were quick to point fingers at China’s seemingly lackluster “new” climate pledge as a harbinger of a doomed outcome for the event. Since China is the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, some climate watchers had hoped Beijing would make a big splash with its updated targets to fight climate change — like providing an earlier-than-2030 peak emissions year or a hard cap on coal consumption. But the…

With Methane and Forest Deals, Climate Summit Offers Hope After Gloomy Start

Chin@Strategy

GLASGOW — The world leaders gathered at a crucial climate summit secured new agreements on Tuesday to end deforestation and reduce emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane, building momentum as the conference prepared to shift to a more grueling two weeks of negotiations on how to avert the planet’s catastrophic warming. Capping off two days of speeches and meetings, President Biden on Tuesday said the United States pledged to be a “partner” with vulnerable countries confronting climate change, while expressing confidence that his own domestic climate agenda is on…

Governments Must Invest in Jobs in Green Economy, Ban Ki-moon Says.

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Global leaders must create jobs in the renewable energy sector so that the costs of transitioning from fossil fuels do not exacerbate economic inequalities, Ban Ki-moon, the former United Nations secretary general, said on Wednesday on the sidelines of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow. “What is absolutely necessary at this time — it is critical now — is for governments to increase their ambition level, not only in clean energy, but creating millions of new green jobs for the people,” Mr. Ban, the U.N. leader from 2007 to 2016,…