China, U.S. launch climate action working group

China and the United States operationalized their Working Group on Enhancing Climate Action in the 2020s via video link on Friday.

The working group was initiated to implement the consensus reached between the two heads of state at their San Francisco meeting and strengthen cooperation between China and the United States in response to climate change.

According to China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the two sides spoke highly of the successful start of the working group and conducted in-depth and friendly communication on key cooperation areas such as energy transition, methane, circular economy, and low-carbon provinces, states and cities.

Both parties agreed to continue to maintain close communication, conduct exchanges, learn from each other and deepen practical cooperation under the working group mechanism in accordance with the consensus enshrined in the Sunnylands Statement on Enhancing Cooperation to Address the Climate Crisis.

Meanwhile, China on Friday also replaced its climate envoy, appointing its former Deputy Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin as the country’s chief negotiator on the environment.

Liu succeeded Xie Zhenhua, who earlier on Friday co-launched a working group on" Enhancing Climate Action in the 2020s between China and the US" with his US counterpart John Kerry.

A statement by China's Ministry of Environment and Ecology said Xie had stepped down due to "health reasons" with the central government's approval.

Xie and Kerry had met several times over the past year for climate talks in China and in US.

In an earlier interview, Liu had emphasized that responding to climate change "should be a good balance between ambition and pragmatism, and ambition should not be watered down to empty talk."

Beijing had sent Liu, 68, as China's special adviser to the 2023 UN Climate Change Conference held in the United Arab Emirates in November-December.