President Joe Biden’s climate envoy, John Podesta, is set to travel to Beijing this week for a meeting with his Chinese counterpart, according to China’s environment ministry. The trip, scheduled from September 4th to September 6th, will mark the second round of formal talks between Podesta and Liu Zhenmin as part of a U.S.-China climate working group. The discussions will focus on practical cooperation, domestic climate policy and actions, and the multilateral process of climate change.
While the United States has not released any details about Podesta’s trip yet, it comes at a crucial time as the world prepares for the United Nations COP29 climate summit in November. This summit will be held in Azerbaijan and aims to address pressing environmental issues.
China remains the top carbon emitter globally and has continued constructing new coal-fired plants despite a slower pace in approving them. A recent study by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) and Global Energy Monitor revealed that China began constructing 41 gigawatts (GW) of coal plants from January to June this year. This accounts for over 90 percent of new global construction activities involving coal.
In contrast, President Biden has made ambitious commitments regarding emissions reduction in the United States. He pledged to halve U.S. emissions by the end of this decade and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
John Podesta took on his role as senior adviser for international climate policy at the White House earlier this year after John Kerry stepped down to join President Biden’s reelection campaign. On China’s side, Liu Zhenmin was appointed as Beijing’s new special envoy for climate change in January.
The two envoys had their first face-to-face meetings in May when they discussed various environmental issues such as methane and non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gases. These topics are expected to be further addressed during this year’s COP29 U.N. climate negotiations.