– The US and China do not have much time left to avoid a frightening future brought on by global warming, John Kerry said as he arrived in China on Monday.

Kerry had traveled from the United States, where more than 100 million Americans are currently living in a so-called “heat alarm” region as a result of a global heat wave.

China set a new national heat record at the weekend when it reached 52.2 degrees in the western region of Xinjiang. As the meeting got underway, the UN warned that the world must prepare for more intense heat waves.

Kerry, who is the US climate envoy, will meet his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua and the country’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, who is the Communist Party’s foreign policy leader. The meeting lasted until Wednesday.

– That the two largest emitting countries must work together to limit climate change in order to do something about emissions, said Iselin Stensdal about the meeting with NRK. He is a researcher at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute (FNI).

He added that it was a positive thing that they were holding talks amid turbulent political times.

– Kerry and Zhenhua are important in relationships

The aim of the three-day trip is to restore climate negotiations between major powers. Relations between the US and China – in contrast to the heat wave sweeping much of the world currently – have cooled since last August, when American politician Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan.

Kerry has always said that the US and China must be able to work together to tackle climate change, despite their political differences

– Climate change is not a political issue. This is not a bilateral issue or an ideological issue. “This is the reality unfolding before our eyes, as a consequence of the choices we make or don’t make,” Kerry told Zhenhua in Beijing.

Kerry and Zhenhua have worked together for more than 20 years. They refer to each other as “old friends.” Their good relationship was crucial to the negotiations, Stensdal said.

– Both have led climate efforts in their respective countries. Zhenhua had actually retired, but was brought back to help with this collaboration. So, despite major geopolitical forces separating China and the US, there are bright spots for cooperation.

The world’s biggest polluter

Concretely, we probably have low expectations for what will come out of this meeting, Stensdal said.

– The most important thing may be to resume talks and cooperation that have been stalled for some time. But conversation is a good first step. “Then it must be followed up with good actions and policies, so that it is not just empty talk,” he said.

America and China are the two largest greenhouse gas emitting countries in the world. In 2021, they accounted for around 45 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

– The world and the climate crisis require us to achieve rapid and significant progress together. It’s important that we unite to take action, Kerry told China.

Apart from being the biggest polluting countries, the United States and China are the countries that have invested the most in renewable energy.

Cooperation worsened under Trump

US and Chinese climate cooperation was at its strongest under President Barack Obama, Stensdal said. Several meetings were then held and both countries were concerned about it Paris Agreement must arrive at the port too.

– Then Trump came and pulled the US out of the Paris Agreement, and started a trade war against China. This also worsens climate cooperation, Stensdal further said.

Despite the fact that President Joe Biden has toned down his rhetoric, he has maintained some of Trump’s criticism. Both by China as a US competitor and on the climate front, Stensdal said.

– Big politics has increasingly influenced climate cooperation between countries. Biden’s new green deal to rebuild the United States may be better for the climate than other measures. But it is also a response to China’s achievements in renewable energy sources and should show that the US is also competing in this regard.

– The US and China should apply together

Despite the fact that Kerry wants climate cooperation independent of other political disputes with China, China has linked climate cooperation to broader relations between the countries. wrote the New York Times.

– If the United States continues to be tough on China, and tensions and hostility between the two sides increase, it is unlikely that the United States will benefit from any cooperation, including in the area of ​​climate change, wrote the Global Timesa news agency controlled by the Communist Party.

But Xie opened talks with the US by saying he hoped the meeting would lead to more stable relations between the two sides.

– The United States and China should make a joint appeal while putting aside our differences, Xie told Kerry.