News of the joint declaration between the two countries, both major emitters of greenhouse gases, came late in the evening in Glasgow, where the 2021 UN climate conference, COP26, has been under way since last week.
The statement refers to the recently released report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which described the urgent need to tackle the climate emergency in alarming detail, and states that both countries recognize the seriousness of the crisis, whilst accepting the significant gaps that remain, between efforts currently being made to tackle it, and the steps that are needed to achieve the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, reached at COP21 in 2015.
In Paris, leaders pledged to try to keep the world from warming by more than between 1.5C to 2C through sweeping emissions cuts.
According to press reports, elements of collaboration outlined in the document include regulatory frameworks and environmental standards related to reducing emissions of greenhouse gases in the 2020s; policies to encourage decarbonization and electrification of end-use sectors; and increased action to control and reduce methane emissions.
In his tweet, António Guterres welcomes the agreement by China and the US to work together to take more ambitious climate action in this decade, and notes that the crisis requires international collaboration and solidarity.
