Global Courant
The Biden administration on Saturday called on China to do more to help developing countries fight climate change, urging the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter to support international climate finance funds it has so far refused to support.
Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen delivered the message during her second day of meetings in Beijing, where she seeks to cultivate areas of cooperation between the United States and China. While China has expressed support for programs to help poor countries cope with the impacts of climate change, it has resisted pouring such funds, arguing that it is also a developing country.
Ms Yellen said China, like the United States, has a responsibility to be a leader in climate finance.
John Morton, a former climate adviser for the Treasury Department under the Biden administration, said any meaningful contribution from China could help the United States get members of Congress and others to approve climate finance. He also said there may be other ways the two superpowers can work together to help developing countries reduce coal use or curb methane, a potent greenhouse gas that leaks from oil and gas wells.
“That would have huge consequences for the world,” he said. “Anytime there is an opportunity to build a closer relationship with China on climate, it is an opportunity that should be seized immediately.”
The US and China are joint leaders of the Group of 20’s Sustainable Finance Working Group, giving the two countries an opportunity to collaborate more closely on global climate issues.
