Climate: the United States and China say they are ready to cooperate

It could well become one of the few cooperation subjects between Beijing and Washington.The two most polluting countries announced, Saturday April 17, wanting to agree to work on the global challenge of the fight against climate change, a few days before the virtual summit organized on the subject by the White House, Thursday and Friday.

The stake is crucial, while China and the United States represent two almost half of greenhouse gas emissions.To tackle it, the two powers "undertake to cooperate between [them] and with other countries to face the climate crisis, which must be treated with the seriousness and the urgency it requires", perhapsWe read in a joint press release signed in Shanghai by John Kerry, the American emissary for the climate, and its Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua.The text, published on Saturday, lists the multiple ways of cooperation between the first two world economies.

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Washington and Beijing affirm "the strengthening of their respective actions and cooperation in multilateral processes, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement".

The question of coal

However, the press release does not specify if the Chinese president, Xi Jinping - invited by Joe Biden, alongside 39 other world leaders - will join the videoconferencing, while Sino -American relations are low."We hope very hard that he will participate," said John Kerry to journalists from Seoul, where he went."Of course, each country will make its own decisions.We are not trying to force anyone.We are looking for cooperation, ”said the American emissary.

But the game will not be easy, while China has half of world carbon electricity production, recalled John Kerry, adding that he had "talked a lot" with officials in Shanghai."I don't point the finger.We have had too much coal, other countries have too much coal, but China is, by far, the largest user in the world.And as it is such a powerful country and economy, it must evolve, "he said.

Long -term strategies

Wanted by Joe Biden to mark the return of the United States on the front line against global warming, the virtual summit should be used to make a point on the situation and the commitments of each before COP26, scheduled in Glasgow in November.The Americans will open the ball by revealing what they announce as ambitious new objectives for the reduction of greenhouse gases.From the first day in the oval office, Joe Biden decreed the return of the United States to the Paris Agreement, returning to the decision of his climatosceptic predecessor Donald Trump to get out of it.

To mark this advance, John Kerry went to China a few days ago, a first for the Biden administration.This visit represented a sign of hope that the two parties could work together at the challenge of climate change.

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Among the short -term measures mentioned in the joint press release are the strengthening of "international investments and funding" to support the transition to green energy in developing countries, as well as the progressive elimination of production and consumptionhydrofluorocarbons, gas mainly used in refrigeration, air conditioners and aerosols.

The longer -term actions to take in the 2020s to maintain the rise in temperature agreed in the Paris Agreement "at hand" include the reduction of industry and electricity production emissions, the'Intensification of renewable energies, clean transport and agriculture resistant to climate variations.In the absence of the United States during the Trump presidency, China took a major role alongside the European Union in the fight against climate change.In September 2020, Xi Jinping had created surprise by committing to that China will reach carbon neutrality before 2060.A promise that the Chinese president reiterated on Friday, during a videoconference with Emmanuel Macron and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

China develops nuclear power

But China seems behind its commitments.According to a study, published Thursday by the organization based in London Transitionzero, the country should reduce by half the carbon dioxide emissions from its coal thermal power plants, by the end of the decade, if it wants to reach thispurpose.However, due to the strong growth of its economy, the coal remains very stressed.

Beijing, however, develops other sources of energy.According to the Reuters agency, the Chinese government approved, on Wednesday, the construction of five nuclear reactors with a total capacity of 4.9 Gigawatts (GW), or around 10% of the country's total nuclear capacity, the Chinese associationNuclear energy, an expert commission, provides that China will have a total nuclear capacity of 200 GW by 2035.