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Friday, January 29, 2021, 15:22
Teamwork urged for climate action
By Ai Heping in New York and Liu Yinmeng in Los Angeles
Friday, January 29, 2021, 15:22 By Ai Heping in New York and Liu Yinmeng in Los Angeles

This aerial photo taken on Aug 19, 2020 shows wind turbines in the Jiucaiping scenic spot in Southwest China's Guizhou province. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

China and the US share common interests in protecting the climate, and the two nations need to work together, policy experts said after US President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed executive orders aimed at tackling the issue.

"Certainly there are issues of significant difference between China and the US, we all know that, but climate change is a place where some of those differences have to be put aside, because we need to work together," said Ken Alex, director of Project Climate at the UC Berkeley Center for Law, Energy and Environment.

John Kerry, Biden's special climate envoy, stressed on Wednesday the urgency for the US and China-the world's biggest emitters of greenhouse gases-to tackle the climate crisis.

In my view, we've already waited too long to deal with this climate crisis. We can't wait any longer. We see it with our own eyes. We feel it. We know it in our bones. And it's time to act.

Joe Biden, US president

"With respect to China, obviously, we have serious differences with China," Kerry said at a White House news briefing."It's a very, very important issue, and I'm as mindful of that as anybody having served as secretary of state, and in the Senate ...those issues will never be traded for anything that has to do with climate. That's not going to happen. But climate is a critical, stand-alone issue."

Kerry's remarks followed an announcement from the new administration on plans to combat climate change.

ALSO READ: World welcomes US return to 2015 Paris climate accord

With Biden saying "it's time to act", the executive orders he signed on Wednesday are aimed at cutting oil, gas and coal emissions and doubling energy production from offshore wind turbines.

"In my view, we've already waited too long to deal with this climate crisis," Biden said before signing directives mandating the federal government to incorporate climate change considerations in everything from federal purchases to national security.

"We can't wait any longer," he said at the White House. "We see it with our own eyes. We feel it. We know it in our bones. And it's time to act."

Biden said the orders aim to "confront the existential threat of climate change" across the federal government while creating jobs and tackling racial inequity.

Fighting global warming

He said that fighting warming global temperatures and carbon pollution by improving infrastructure and transportation technology will add millions of jobs.

But energy companies and lawmakers in energy-producing states warned that the actions would result in job losses.

Wednesday's executive orders also establish new foreign policy goals, including specifying that climate change, for the first time, will be a core part of all US foreign policy and national security decisions.

The orders mark a reversal from the approach of former president Donald Trump, who sought to maximize oil, gas and coal output by removing regulations and easing environmental reviews.

Biden has vowed to reverse Trump's bias toward fossil fuels. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday, his first full day in the job, that he favored cooperation with China on climate change and other issues of shared concern.

The US-China relationship was "arguably the most important relationship that we have in the world", he told reporters.

READ MORE: Can Beijing, Washington join hands on climate pact?

Alex said the executive orders were good steps toward increasing the US' climate role and open a window with China to work together on the issue.

He said California has long enjoyed a vital partnership with China.

The California-China Climate Institute at UC Berkeley was set up to promote opportunities for learning, coordination and cooperation around the issue of climate, Alex said.

An Feng, founder and president of the US-China Cleantech Center, said the two nations have been working closely on the climate and in clean tech. He remains optimistic and expects enterprises in the two nations to work together more, especially in the development of clean energy technologies.

Ethan Elkind, director of the climate program at UC Berkeley's Center for Law, Energy and Environment, said the executive actions are necessary sweeping measures.

"It's the product of a lot advance thought and deliberation by many climate nonprofits, clean tech businesses and academics," he said.

Agencies contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at aiheping@chinadailyusa.com


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