United States climate envoy John Kerry voiced hope on Friday that Beijing and Washington would work together more closely on the climate emergency after they struck a pact to accelerate action against greenhouse gas emissions.

Speaking at a forum in Singapore, the former secretary of state emphasised cooperation -- even as the rivals spar over other flashpoint issues such as Taiwan.

"I hope that our working together will increase the sharing of data, increase the sharing of options and begin to engage us in a very important dialogue with the top leadership of both of our countries," Kerry said at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum.

"China agreed to work with us to lay out an ambitious -- and those are the words -- ambitious national action plan, which China must submit and begin acting on by COP 27, a year from now," he added.

In addition to cutting methane and carbon dioxide emissions, the US-China plan announced in Glasgow will also see the world's two biggest polluters looking to improve measurement and mitigation in the fossil fuel, waste and agriculture sectors, though the deal has been criticised for lacking specifics.

Earlier this month, around 100 nations joined an initiative to cut methane emissions by at least 30 percent this decade, but China was noticeably absent.

Methane is considered the second key greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide. While it can be naturally released and absorbed by the earth, its emissions have skyrocketed with industrialisation and the expansion of agriculture.

Kerry described methane reductions as "the single biggest, fastest grab that we can make for dealing with this problem".

The US has said it plans to be carbon neutral by 2050, while China has set a net-zero target for 2060 with coal consumption to peak at 2030.

But Beijing has yet to spell out precisely how it intends to achieve these goals, and environmentalists have warned that China can essentially keep increasing emissions until 2030.

The agreement between China and the US came as a surprise on the sidelines of the COP 26 climate summit, and it will see the world's top two economies setting up a working group and meeting regularly.

Related Links
Climate Science News - Modeling, Mitigation Adaptation

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The Space Media Network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceMediaNetwork Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceMediaNetwork Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

'Down' but not 'out': Growth needs fuel India's coal addiction
New Delhi (AFP) Nov 15, 2021
Even as its capital was blanketed by toxic smog, India led the charge to weaken anti-coal pledges at the COP26 summit, with experts saying it is prioritising its economic growth over the planet's future. The world's third-largest emitter teamed up with China to water down language on fossil fuels at the Glasgow conference, forcing a compromise: a climate deal that bound countries to "phase down" but not "phase out" coal use. India's resistance to more ambitious curbs on dirty energy is driven by ... read more