John Kerry, the US president’s special climate envoy, has called on China to expand its efforts to cut carbon emissions to help halt global warming.
This came in a statement published by the US State Department on Thursday, according to the Associated Press.
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The statement noted that Kerry told Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng in a virtual meeting that there was “no way” to resolve the global climate crisis without Beijing’s “full participation and commitment.”
“Kerry stressed the importance of the world taking serious climate action in this critical decade, and promoting global climate ambition,” the department added.
In turn, the official Xinhua news agency quoted Cheng as telling Kerry that Beijing had made “huge efforts” in addressing the issue of climate change and had achieved remarkable results, according to the same source.
Cheng added that his country “hopes that the US side will create appropriate conditions for a joint response to climate change based on the talks between the leaders of the two countries.”
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The virtual meeting came while Kerry was in the eastern Chinese city of Tianjin for talks about making greater efforts.
To limit temperature rise to no more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
On August 9, the report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned of the “widespread, rapid and intense” spread of climate change on the globe.
The report indicated that the stability of temperatures in the Earth’s atmosphere may take between 20-30 years.
China is the world’s largest emitter of carbon, producing an estimated 27 percent of global greenhouse gases, followed by the United States, according to the agency.
China also generates about 60 percent of its energy from coal and is working to open more of these stations at a time when it announces its commitment to reducing its use of fossil fuels, according to the previous source.
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China has set a goal of generating 20 percent of its total needs from renewable energy sources by 2025 and reducing total emissions starting in 2030.
