Top US diplomat says China needs more ambitious climate goal

BEIJING (AP) — China and U.S. had a “very good year” for collaboration on dealing with climate change, but Washington is still pushing Beijing to adopt more ambitious carbon reduction goals, the top U.S. diplomat in China said.

David Meale, the American Embassy's No. 2 official, said that what China does on burning coal will be crucial to whether the world can meet its target of capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) by the end of the century, as set by the 2015 Paris climate accord.

China, the world’s largest energy consumer and biggest producer and consumer of coal, emits 27% of the world's carbon dioxide, the most of any country.

So far, however, China has shown no intention of moving up its timeline to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2060 — 10 years later than many nations — and for carbon emissions to peak by 2030 or before, said Meale, the embassy's chargé d’affaires.

The Senate has yet to approve President Joe Biden’s nominee for ambassador to Beijing, former senior State Department official Nicholas Burns.

“It has been a very good year for our collaboration," Meale said, citing the close relationship and regular communication between climate envoys John Kerry and Xie Zhenhua.

China has at times appeared to indicate it would tie cooperation on climate change to other issues between the countries. However, Meale cited the U.S.-China deal to work harder together to cut emissions this decade, reached last month at COP26 in Glasgow, as an indication of China's willingness to engage.

“This is a very positive outcome and one we plan to build on in our bilateral engagement going forward and ... get to a place where things are speeded up, where the numbers look better," he said.

While Washington and Beijing have many areas of disagreement,...