中美气候合作：意料之外？早有先例！

11月15日，外交部发言人赵立坚在例行记者会上表示，中美两国元首将于北京时间11月16日上午举行视频会晤。

就在5天前，中美两国政府在联合国气候变化格拉斯哥大会期间发布《中美关于在21世纪20年代强化气候行动的格拉斯哥联合宣言》，引发国际社会强烈反响和高度关注。

正如中国气候变化事务特使解振华所说，中美作为两个大国，承担了特殊的国际责任和义务，中美应该展现大格局、承担大担当，应当顺应世界潮流，挖掘更多合作潜力，为促进世界和平与发展作出历史性的贡献。

事实上，中美两国在气候变化领域开展合作并不是什么新鲜事，类似合作最早可以追溯到1990年代。 

The recent joint declaration made by China and the U.S. on tackling climate change at the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has been welcomed by the world. 

The framework agreement, announced by Chinese special envoy Xie Zhenhua and his U.S. counterpart John Kerry on Wednesday, says the two countries will enhance climate cooperation by reducing methane emissions, protecting forests and phasing out coal.

China and the U.S., as two major countries in the world, bear special responsibilities for world peace and development, Xie said. "The release of the joint declaration shows again that cooperation is the only right choice for both China and the United States. By working together, our two countries can accomplish many important things that are beneficial not only to our two countries but the world as a whole."

Speaking at a separate press conference, Kerry echoed the idea saying "cooperation is the only way to get this job done."

"We cannot reach our goals unless all of us work together," he said, noting that the U.S. and China "have to help show the way." 

The two sides agreed to establish a working group on enhancing climate action in the 2020s.

In fact, China-U.S. cooperation on climate change is nothing new, and can be traced back as early as the 1990s. 

Despite tensions between China and the U.S. in fields such as trade and technology, the trajectory of the world's two largest economies in cooperating on climate has been maintained.

In April, the two countries released a joint statement committing to tackling the climate crisis and pursuing efforts to hold the rise in the average global temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius, limiting it to 1.5 degrees Celsius, in accordance with Article 2 of the Paris Agreement.

In late August, Xie and Kerry conducted candid, in-depth and pragmatic dialogues in Tianjin, exchanging views on the seriousness and urgency of global climate change, and plans for bilateral talks and cooperation on climate change. 

China aims to reach peak carbon emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060, while the U.S. wants to achieve zero carbon emissions from the electric sector by 2035 and carbon neutrality by 2050. 

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