US, China’s climate envoys meet for talks

The new climate envoys from the United States and China met in Washington for their first in-person talks amid trade tensions between the two countries, with an emphasis on accelerating the next steps to be taken during this decade on climate action. Discussed.

The talks, chaired by John Podesta, the Biden administration’s top climate diplomat, and Liu Zhenmin, China’s special envoy for climate change, began on May 8 and will continue until Thursday (local time), the New York Times reported. Topics on the agenda include climate financing and efforts to reduce methane and other non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gas emissions, the White House said in a statement.

The development comes ahead of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change or UNFCCC, commonly known as COP29, in Azerbaijan this November.

The Biden administration has issued an investigation into Chinese-made electric vehicles, or EVs, and called for raising tariffs on imports of solar panels from China to protect domestic producers.

In 2023, ahead of COP28 in Dubai, former US Secretary of State, John Kerry, and China’s former Climate Minister, Xie Zhenhua, issued the Sunnylands Statement on enhancing cooperation to tackle the climate crisis.

It was the result of talks between Kerry and Xi in Beijing from July 16-19, 2023, and in Sunnylands, California from November 4-7. In the declaration, both countries agreed to jointly tackle global warming by increasing wind and solar energy. Other renewable energies with the goal of displacing fossil fuels.

Climate envoys are likely to steer clear of electric vehicles as an area of ​​climate cooperation because they have become a major area of ​​tension, Voice of America reports.

The Biden administration has said it will investigate Chinese-made digitally connected vehicles, citing concerns over potential national security risks and their ability to collect sensitive information about American users, VOA reports.

Podesta announced earlier this year that the White House is establishing a new Climate and Trade Task Force, which will have three focus areas—addressing carbon leakage, carbon dumping, and common measurements and high standards on embodied emissions. Taking steps at the international level to promote