Beijing:
US climate envoy John Kerry warned Thursday that Beijing’s coal creating spree could “undo” international capacity to meet climate targets, soon after holding talks with best officials in China.
Tensions among Beijing and Washington have soared in current months with the two sides trading barbs on China’s human rights record and its initial handling of the coronavirus.
Tackling climate modify is amongst a handful of challenges exactly where the two sides had struck notes of harmony.
But Beijing has in current months emphasised that environmental cooperation could be hurt by deteriorating Sino-US relations.
Kerry told journalists on Thursday evening that the United States has made it “clear that the addition of more coal plants represents a significant challenge to the efforts of the world to deal with the climate crisis.”
Chinese plans for new coal plants could “undo the capacity of the world to reach net-zero by 2050,” he mentioned, adding that they had “very constructive” talks but he was also “very direct” on the subject.
Despite pledges to peak coal consumption just before 2030, China brought 38.4 gigawatts of new coal-fired energy into operation last year — more than 3 occasions what was brought on line globally.
China has challenged the United States to repair relations with Beijing in order to make progress on climate modify.
But Kerry urged Beijing not to let environmental cooperation be impacted by tensions among the world’s two most significant polluters.
“Climate is not ideological,” he mentioned. “It is a global challenge.”
“It is essential… no matter what differences we have, that we have to address the climate crisis.”
Foreign minister Wang Yi had told Kerry earlier in the stop by that cooperation on international warming could not be disentangled from broader diplomacy among the two nations.
In a video get in touch with with the United States climate envoy, Wang accused Washington of a “major strategic miscalculation towards China”, according to the ministry statement.
“It is impossible for China-US climate cooperation to be elevated above the overall environment of China-US relations,” Wang mentioned.
He added that “the ball is now in the United States’ court, and the US should stop seeing China as a threat and opponent.”
‘China can do more’
At an earlier virtual meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng on Thursday, Kerry mentioned “there is no way for the world to solve the climate crisis without the full engagement and commitment” of China, according to a US State Department spokesperson.
The US envoy has repeatedly urged China, the world’s biggest polluter, to step up its efforts to minimize carbon emissions.
“We have consistently said to China and other countries…to do their best within their given capacity,” Kerry mentioned. “We think that China can do more.”
China is the world’s existing biggest emitter of carbon dioxide, followed by the United States, which has historically emitted more than any other nation to date.
While China has promised to attain peak carbon emissions by 2030 and grow to be carbon neutral by 2060, the nation continues to be heavily dependent on coal, which fuels practically 60 % of its power consumption.
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