China and the United States hold face-to-face climate consultations, marking the first visit of Kerry to China this year

According to the agreement between China and the United States, the US President's special envoy on climate issues, John Kerry, will visit China from July 16th to 19th. On the occasion of Kerry's visit to China, "warming up" and "cooperation" have become the key words commented by multiple media outlets for this bilateral meeting.

Chinese authoritative experts have stated that China and the United States have cooperated multiple times on addressing climate change and contributed to global climate governance. Climate transition and energy transition are common needs and trends between China and the United States.

This trip is Kerry's third visit to China as the US President's special envoy on climate issues, and also the first face-to-face climate consultation between China and the United States since the beginning of this year.

On January 11th of this year, China's special envoy on climate change, Xie Zhenhua, held a video meeting with the US President's special envoy on climate issues, John Kerry. The two sides exchanged views on implementing the consensus of the China US First Bali Meeting and cooperating to promote global climate multilateral processes. Both sides agreed to further maintain communication and jointly address the challenges of climate change in the future.

On July 13th, Kerry stated at a congressional hearing that we hope China and the United States can accelerate cooperation, increase renewable energy deployment, improve grid management, and find ways to accelerate climate cooperation for the benefit of the world.

Both sides share multiple similarities in addressing climate change

"The national conditions of China and the United States are different, but there are many similarities in addressing climate change issues." Liu Yanhua, Honorary Director of the National Climate Change Expert Committee of China, was interviewed by reporters in Beijing on the 17th and summarized four common points:

One is the consensus among Chinese and American leaders. In November 2022, Chinese and American leaders discussed climate change during their meeting in Bali. "Both sides emphasize that China and the United States must strengthen cooperation in addressing climate change issues," said Liu Yanhua.

The second is the foundation of cooperation. Liu Yanhua said that China and the United States have cooperated many times on addressing climate change issues, and each cooperation has contributed to the formation of global climate governance. Moreover, China and the United States have established a working group to strengthen climate action and carried out related work. Climate transition and energy transition are common needs between China and the United States, and they are also a global trend.

Thirdly, both China and the United States are major emitters of greenhouse gases. Liu Yanhua said that the United States has the largest cumulative carbon dioxide emissions in history, accounting for 25% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Recently, China's carbon emissions have been increasing.

Fourthly, in terms of renewable energy, both China and the United States are major producers. To promote global energy transformation, China and the United States have many foundations for cooperation, and cooperation between China and the United States can definitely contribute to the world.

"Nowadays, countries are very concerned about the development of renewable energy, and the development of renewable energy must achieve diversity and complementarity." Liu Yanhua said that different countries have their own advantages in renewable energy, such as China's significant progress in wind and photovoltaic power generation; The EU has done relatively well in wind and nuclear energy; The United States is leading in energy storage, nuclear fusion, and other areas. I believe that in the future, countries in the development of renewable energy will achieve win-win cooperation.

Utilize their respective strengths to carry out cooperation in multiple aspects

When it comes to climate cooperation between China and the United States, Liu Yanhua said that there is a good foundation for cooperation between China and the United States, especially in making major contributions to reaching the Paris Agreement. The focus of China US cooperation now is the working group that has been reached in the past to strengthen climate cooperation.

Liu Yanhua said that the United States has its strengths, and China also has its strengths. Cooperation requires leveraging each other's strengths and engaging in cooperation from local, enterprise, industry, and other aspects to address issues of mutual concern.

Liu Yanhua suggested that China and the United States each have their own strengths, and both sides can consider conducting cooperation in third-party countries and regions, which is also a direction for future cooperation between the two sides.

Regarding the prospect of cooperation, Liu Yanhua said that both sides can also cooperate in terms of technology.

In a 2021 report, the International Energy Agency mentioned that 50% of the key technologies to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 are currently in the demonstration stage. Liu Yanhua believes that this means that carbon neutrality technology is constantly advancing, and many problems such as cost, scale, transmission, storage, and infrastructure need to be solved. No country can stand alone, and no country can take on all of them. Only through cooperation can progress be promoted.

Liu Yanhua said that since China and the United States have a good foundation for cooperation, there is every reason to jointly promote technological progress to make the world bluer and clearer. I hope that Kerry's visit to China will achieve significant success, promote global climate governance cooperation, and advance climate cooperation between China and the United States.

The Foreign Relations Law of the People's Republic of China, released in June this year, requires the People's Republic of China to actively participate in global environmental and climate governance, strengthen green and low-carbon international cooperation, jointly seek global ecological civilization construction, and promote the construction of a fair, reasonable, and win-win global environmental and climate governance system.

Zhang Haibin, Vice Dean of the School of International Relations at Peking University and Vice Dean of the Carbon Neutrality Research Institute at Peking University, believes that this is the first foreign relations law since the founding of the People's Republic of China, which sends an important signal that through legislation, China will actively participate in global environmental and climate governance, strengthen green and low-carbon international cooperation, and demonstrate China's firm belief and determination in actively engaging in climate cooperation with the United States and countries around the world.