According to Reuters 24 report, the U.S. national climate adviser Gina McCarthy said on 23 local time, the Biden administration is expected to announce more policies needed to address climate change this week, including urging China to strengthen its emissions reduction targets.
In the report, Reuters deliberately highlighted the China-related content as a headline.
Gina McCarthy did not reveal what specific policies the Biden administration is about to introduce this week to address climate change, according to the report.
According to a memo seen by Reuters on Jan. 21, Biden will unveil a second round of executive orders as early as Jan. 27, including a comprehensive order to address climate change, which he has also elevated to a national security priority.
Meanwhile, former Secretary of State John Kerry, the president’s special envoy on climate issues, also spoke publicly about China, saying its commitment to reducing emissions “isn’t good enough.
Kerry said the Biden administration has begun to put diplomatic pressure on countries to work harder on climate issues.
According to Reuters, Kerry just finished a meeting with European foreign ministers on 22 local time, and the ministers told Kerry that the Trump administration lacks action on climate issues, and they have high expectations for the Biden administration.
Since the Trump administration took office, U.S. climate change policy has been regressive.
During his four years in office, Trump has repealed about 100 climate and environmental regulations and pursued an “energy-led” policy to maximize production and exports of oil, natural gas and coal, Reuters said.
Trump announced in June 2017 that the United States would “stop implementing the non-binding Paris Agreement,” arguing that the latter puts the U.S. economy at a disadvantage.
In November 2019, the U.S. announced that it had formally initiated the process of withdrawing from the Paris Agreement.
On Jan. 20 this year, Democrat Joe Biden was inaugurated as the president of the United States. After taking office, he quickly issued an executive order calling a halt to the U.S.-Canada pipeline project that Trump had agreed to build and announced that the U.S. would rejoin the Paris Agreement.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying then said that China welcomes this and expects the U.S. side to make positive contributions to addressing climate change.
In response to some U.S. politicians’ unwarranted and repeated accusations of China’s efforts on environmental issues, Hua said previously that China has been actively participating in global climate governance, was among the first parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and made important contributions to the conclusion of the Kyoto Protocol, the Paris Agreement and its implementation rules.
She also stressed that China has met and exceeded its 2020 climate action target ahead of schedule, and that a quarter of the world’s new greening area since 2000 has come from China.
China will also increase its autonomous national contribution, adopt stronger policies and measures, and strive to peak CO2 emissions by 2030, and work towards carbon neutrality by 2060.
