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US and China Reach ‘Some Agreements’ on Climate – John Kerry


The US has reached some agreements with China ahead of the COP28 Summit in Dubai at the end of this month, Washington’s climate envoy has said.

“We felt that our days of talks were very successful. We did come up with some agreements”, John Kerry told the BBC at a business summit in Singapore.

Details will be shared “at the appropriate moment soon”, he said.

The world’s two biggest polluters finding common ground is considered a crucial part of any consensus at COP28.

Mr Kerry had met with his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua in California this week for four days. He described the meetings as tough and serious.

In response to a question, Mr Kerry refuted observations that US climate policies and technologies are “anti-China”.

“Like any other country in the world, [China] benefits from a new technology. We’re trying to develop that… Every country I’ve heard from Germany and France, and other countries, do the same thing. We need to all move faster,” he said.

It is hoped that COP28 – to be held from 30 November to 12 December – will help keep alive the goal of limiting long-term global temperature rises to 1.5C. This was agreed by nearly 200 countries in Paris in 2015.

Contentious topics on the table in Dubai include details of a fund for richer countries to compensate the poorest nations as they cope with climate change.

The US and some other developed countries have been wary of the fund and sought to limit access to the most vulnerable countries not covered by development banks and relief funds.

Source : BBC

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