Chinese and U.S. officials plan to talk this week about reducing pollution by the world’s two largest economies — an area of potential cooperation between two governments whose relations are strained on other issues.
U.S. climate envoy John Kerry is scheduled for meetings with counterparts from the Chinese Foreign Ministry beginning Wednesday.
Relations between Washington and Beijing have been strained by disputes over trade, technology and human rights, but the sides have identified the climate crisis as an area for possible cooperation.
The world’s biggest coal user, China obtains roughly 60% of its power from coal and is the world’s biggest source of greenhouse gases. It plans to build more coal-fired power plants but still plans to widely taper its use of the fossil fuel.
Beijing has pointed to historical U.S. emissions as a reason to resist action while making advances in solar power and other renewable energy sources. China has set a target of generating 20% of the country’s total energy consumption from renewables by 2025, becoming carbon-neutral by 2060 and reducing total emissions starting from 2030.