U.S. climate envoy John Kerry visits China for talks on COP26

U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry arrived in Shanghai on Wednesday night, kicking off his visit to China, which will last until April 17.

U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry speaks during a news conference in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., Jan. 27, 2021. [File Photo: VCG]

During the visit, Kerry will meet his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua in Shanghai. They will exchange views on climate change cooperation between the two major world economies as well as the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), which will be held in Glasgow, Scotland this November.

Kerry's visit comes ahead of a high-profile climate change summit initiated by Washington. The White House said in a statement last month that U.S. President Joe Biden had invited 40 world leaders to attend a virtual summit on climate change on April 22 and 23. Chinese and Russian leaders are invited to the summit, according to the statement.

China has pledged to have carbon dioxide emissions peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. The country also vows to lower its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by over 65 percent from the 2005 level by 2030.

Biden reversed his predecessor Donald Trump's climate policy on his first day in office by signing an executive order returning the United States to the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.

The U.S. is expected to announce "an ambitious 2030 emissions target as its new Nationally Determined Contribution under the Paris Agreement" by the time of the summit next week, the White House statement said.

Senior Chinese and U.S. officials met for a high-level strategic dialogue in the Alaskan city of Anchorage from March 18 to 19. The two sides expressed commitment to enhancing dialogue and cooperation in the field of climate change and agreed to establish a joint working group on climate change.