US climate envoy John Kerry (left) and his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua give a joint news conference at the end of the COP28 climate summit in Dubai on Dec 13, 2023. (PHOTO / AFP)
When the negotiations in the just-concluded UN climate summit got stuck, China and the US worked together, provided “some joint proposals to unlock the deadlock in the negotiations, and facilitated the success of the COP”, China's special envoy for climate change recalled on Dec 13.
“Here in Dubai, we already fulfilled parts of the words (committed) at Sunnylands, that is working together to promote a successful COP28,” Xie Zhenhua said, referring to a meeting early last month between the Chinese and US climate envoys at a location in California, the United States.
Towards the end of the dialogue, Xie reminded that this year, or Dec 12 to be precise, marked the eighth anniversary of the adoption and coming into effect of the Paris Agreement
Meanwhile, he thanked his US counterpart and his team for good collaboration during the COP28, the 2023 UN climate summit that ended in Dubai on Dec 13 after stretching into overtime.
READ MORE: COP28: Negotiators urged to 'speed up' on climate action
Xie made his remarks in a dialogue with the US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry as they jointly met the press at COP28 after a historic deal — to move away from fossil fuels — was struck at the last minute at the summit following a prolonged deadlock earlier at the nearly two-week-long conference.
Nearly 200 countries agreed on the need to begin reducing fossil fuel consumption, with the world’s top powers on board.
China and the US also agreed that “following the requirements of the Paris Agreement, and also the suggestions made in the outcome for the first ‘Global Stocktake’, the two sides “will respectively reevaluate our respective long-term strategies for climate actions,” Xie said.
They also agreed to operationalize their joint working group on climate change as soon as possible, so that they can get some work started under the four thematic sub-working groups … so that they can better implement their NDCs (nationally determined contributions) and promote the multilateral process, he said.
During their meeting, Kerry first introduced the status of the collaboration in the field of climate change between two countries. “First of all, with a great deal of back and forth, and in the weeks leading up, in the months leading up, we agreed to take concrete mitigation actions in parallel and to establish a working group to carry out pragmatic cooperation,” Kerry said.
Recently China and the US released an agreement which addressed the national actions of the two countries, such as agreement to accelerate renewables, deployment of substitutes for fossil fuels, and the elements that both considered should be included in the Global Stocktake in Dubai, Kerry added.
According to the Chinese envoy, under the instructions of Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden, two special envoys and their teams spent some days together at the Sunnylands, California, in Novembe
“We both hope and are pleased that we think our joint work not only advance our respective national efforts, but also reflected COP in many ways.”
The Paris Agreement and the global stocktake both stressed the importance of developing and updating long-term strategies in order to reduce emissions and enhance resilience, Kerry noted.
Xie then thanked his “good friend” Kerry, saying he agreed with Kerry a lot on his assessment of China-US cooperation on climate change.
According to the Chinese envoy, under the instructions of Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden, two special envoys and their teams spent some days together at the Sunnylands, California, in November.
Under the principle of upholding multilateralism and promoting the implementation of the Paris Agreement, they had “candid, frank, in-depth and friendly exchanges”. Finally they adopted the “China-US Joint Sunnylands Statement” for addressing the climate crisis before their two presidents met for a summit, Xie noted.
He added: “In this joint Sunnylands statement for which we both gained approval from our presidents, we agreed that, first, we will both review our respective progress in implementing the Paris Agreement and the climate actions we have taken domestically, and we agreed that we will work together to support the UAE presidency in hosting a successful COP28.”
As the world's two major countries, China and the US agreed that they will work together to enhance exchanges and cooperation in climate change, the Chinese envoy said.
“Therefore, we decided that we will operationalize the joint working group to address climate change, he said. “This is to promote more pragmatic actions and the multilateral process and also to better implement our respective NDCs.”
Towards the end of the dialogue, Xie reminded that this year, or Dec 12 to be precise, marked the eighth anniversary of the adoption and coming into effect of the Paris Agreement.
“And it was also during this COP, my old friend Secretary Kerry celebrated his 80th birthday, and I specially invited my family and my eight-year-old grandson, especially to travel to Dubai, and say Happy Birthday to my friend, Mr Kerry.”
He said his eight-year-old grandson asked him, “Why are you still working so hard at your age? And why are there so many people … participating in the intense negotiations for such long hours here?”
READ MORE: COP28: UAE highlights its commitmment in climate action
Xie said he gave this response: “Because we're all passionate for this common cause of addressing climate change. And I believe with our younger generations, this cause will be carried forward, generations after generations.”
“Our cause must surely be sustainable,” the Chinese climate envoy said, adding that he felt lucky that he could make such a good friend like “Secretary Kerry”.
“We have been friends for over 20 years. I hope we can continue to work together to make this world a better place,” Xie said.
Contact the writer at vivienxu@chinadailyapac.com
