Critical meeting in Davos: USA and China reached an agreement

Xie Zhenhua, the Chinese delegation’s special climate envoy to the Davos Forum, sat side by side with his US counterpart John Kerry in a panel discussion on Tuesday afternoon.

Critical meeting in Davos. Kerry and Xie have been working closely on climate solutions, with Kerry stating that “For at least the next 8 years, we must radically change our economic system and our reliance on fossil fuels if we’re to stay aligned to Paris Agreement targets. This is the real battle of our time,”

John Kerry, the senior US official, said that they have made progress with China in rapidly reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Speaking during the World Economic Forum held in Davos, Kerry stated that the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitting countries, the USA and China, are close to agreeing on how decisions will be made.

China and the United States have the highest carbon emissions and are also the most capable of conducting research and cooperating. The two share a fundamental consensus and common interests on climate issues, so there is some prospect for cooperation, even with the US always having a competitive mindset toward China, according to the environmental expert.

For the first time, China has agreed to take action against leaks of methane, an extremely potent greenhouse gas.