US and China to cooperate on enhancing climate action

Joint declaration to tackle CO₂ and methane emissions, with China pledging to reduce coal consumption

The US and China have released a joint declaration at Cop26 announcing their intention to cooperate on “enhancing climate action” throughout the 2020s. “Both sides recognise that there is a gap between the current effort and the Paris Agreement goals, so we will jointly strengthen climate action and cooperation, with respect to our respective national situations and circumstances, to accelerate the green and low-carbon transition,” China’s climate envoy, Xie Zhenhua, said at a press conference on Wednesday evening. “This declaration includes strong statements about the alarming science, the emissions gap and the urgent need to accelerate action to close that gap. This is critical—we all have