U.S. and China speak in unison on climate change, but each has its own agenda.

[Business Post] The leaders of the United States and China, who met face-to-face for the first time in a year, have agreed on the need to address climate change.

However, aside from the shared direction on climate change, the summit revealed limitations in the absence of substantial outcomes.

According to the White House, President Biden and President Xi held a summit for over four hours in Woodside, near San Francisco, on the 15th (local time).

The face-to-face summit between President Biden and President Xi was the first in a year since the G20 meeting held in Bali, Indonesia last November. This was also President Xi’s first visit to the U.S. in six years since 2017.

Progress was made on some current issues, including the resumption of military dialogue between the two countries and the crackdown on the drug fentanyl, and consensus was reached on cooperation in responding to climate change.

In particular, on the eve of the summit, the U.S. State Department and China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued the ‘Sunnylands Statement for Strengthening Cooperation in Response to the Climate Crisis’.

The statement includes the establishment of a ‘Working Group to Strengthen Climate Action’, co-chaired by the climate envoys of both countries, and the goal to triple renewable energy production capacity by 2030.

In the statement, both governments said, “The United States and China will focus on accelerating specific actions, particularly executable and substantive cooperation projects, through the working group before and after this UN Climate Change Conference (COP28).”

Cooperation between the United States and China in response to climate change could have significant implications.

Looking at the carbon dioxide emissions, a crucial indicator of climate change response, China accounts for 33% and the U.S. for 12.6% of global emissions, according to the Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR) of the European Union (EU) based on 2021 data.

Compared to most other countries, which fall in the 1-2% range, with the EU at 7.3%, India at 7%, and Russia at 5.1%, the proportion of carbon dioxide emissions from these two countries is overwhelming.

However, the statement’s effectiveness may be limited as it does not include specific measures related to the cooperation between the United States and China on climate change.

This is because China has not explicitly committed to reducing the use of fossil fuels such as coal, or to halting the construction of new coal-fired power plants, which are necessary steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. has consistently demanded that China present a concrete plan to reduce the use of fossil fuels.

China agreed with the U.S. to set a goal for reducing greenhouse gas emissions within the next seven years, in the 2020s, as a result of this meeting. Although it is the first time China has promised to set a target for reducing greenhouse gases, it is insufficient compared to most countries targeting ‘net zero’ by 2030.

The lack of substantive content in the cooperation between the United States and China on climate change response is seen as a reflection of the inherent limitations of the summit itself.

The United States and China, often referred to as being in a ‘new Cold War’ due to their prolonged conflicts, held this summit in an attempt to improve relations. However, the primary motivation for the summit was not so much a fundamental change in the environment surrounding relations between the two countries, but the political situations facing President Biden and President Xi.

President Biden is struggling ahead of next year’s election, and President Xi is also losing significant support due to China’s economic downturn.

Given their precarious political standing domestically, both President Biden and President Xi agreed not to create a negative diplomatic situation, but there was no new agreement at the national level.

After the summit, President Biden stated, “We have made real progress.”

However, the consensus was that the actual results were minimal, as disagreements were confirmed on major issues between the two countries, such as the Taiwan issue and trade controls, no joint statement was issued, and President Biden alone attended the press conference held after the summit.

Even at the end of the press conference, President Biden responded to a question asking if he would still call President Xi a dictator by saying, “Well, look, he is,” pouring cold water on the atmosphere of improving relations. Reporter Sang-Ho Lee