Climate summit: China and USA surprisingly agree on cooperation

SZ.de Climate summit: China and USA surprisingly agree on cooperation By Michael Bauchmüller, Glasgow | Politically, the two countries are currently fed up with trouble. But at the climate conference, the world's two biggest climate sinners surprisingly forge an alliance. What's behind it? Divided on many issues, now at least a little united on climate protection: The USA and China Divided on many issues, now at least a little united on climate protection: The USA and China China and USA surprisingly agree on cooperation Negotiations must have gone on for months, with negotiators from both sides joining forces 30 times - for this one moment shortly before the end of the Glasgow climate summit: China and the U.S. want to cooperate more closely on climate protection in the future. "We both see that the threat of climate change is existential and serious," China's chief negotiator Xie Zhenhua said Wednesday night in Glasgow. "Cooperation is the only chance for our two countries." He also said there is "more unity than differences in the era of climate change." That's rarely the case between the two superpowers at the moment, as there is plenty of conflict around trade issues, human rights, around Taiwan and Hong Kong. "We have no shortage of divergent positions," says John Kerry, U.S. President Joe Biden's special climate envoy, too. "But on climate, we need to work together." There is an "imperative to work together," he said. In large parts, the three-page declaration is not very concrete, but its very making is important to the success of the conference. For a long time, the U.S. and China had paralyzed each other on climate change - each side pointing to the other's inaction to justify its own inaction. An initial agreement between Presidents Barack Obama and Xi Jinping in 2014 had only cleared the way for the Paris climate agreement a year later. Both sides wanted to work to accelerate the move away from fossil fuels, the statement said, and to do so as quickly as possible. "We agreed to take faster steps in the twenties," Xie said. China will also work to reduce emissions of methane, which is particularly harmful to the climate, he said. The U.S. and the EU in particular had recently joined forces to achieve this. A joint working group is also to coordinate the climate policies of both countries more closely. Both also want to present new climate plans in 2025 - but for the ten years up to 2035. This is the downside of the agreement, because in many places it falls short of what many developing countries, island states and the EU are demanding. These demand, for example, that future climate plans always be drawn up for five years so that they can and must be improved more frequently. The declaration could also stand in the way of the goal of setting a maximum global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial times: It uses the two-degree target from the Paris climate agreement. However, it says efforts should be made to reach the 1.5 degrees - something similar to what the Paris agreement sounds like. The negotiations in Glasgow, which are to officially end on Friday, are likely to be rather burdened by this. EU Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans welcomed the agreement, but added. "Now we have to find a global way to keep the 1.5 degrees alive," he wrote on Twitter.