Climate negotiators from the US and China will resume talks Wednesday in Beijing on deepening emissions cuts and transition funding, as the top two polluters aim to find agreement on key issues ahead of November’s global UN summit.
John Podesta, the US senior adviser to the president for international climate policy, and China climate envoy Liu Zhenmin will co-chair meetings from Wednesday through Friday as part of a working committee between the two nations established earlier this year, China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment said in a statement.
The sides will exchange views on practical cooperation under the working group, their respective domestic climate actions and multilateral processes on climate change, the ministry said.
The talks come less than three months before the COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan and a US election set to dictate not only the nation’s next president but also its approach to planet-warming pollution.
Both countries are likely well into the process of developing new pledges for emissions cuts by 2035. The new nationally determined commitments, as they’re known under the Paris agreements, are due by February, although Podesta said earlier this year that the US was on track to announce them by the end of 2024.
Negotiators are also expected to address one of the thorniest issues facing this year’s summit: a new, post-2025 goal for funding to accelerate the green transition in developing nations and protect them from more extreme weather. Some nations are pushing China to contribute despite its status as a developing nation.
