Sept. 3 (UPI) — John Podesta is expected to urge Chinese leaders to make more significant commitments to greenhouse gas emissions as he traveled to Beijing Tuesday ahead of a three-day trip on behalf of the Biden administration.
As Biden’s leading climate diplomat, the trip is seen as the White House’s last shot to move Beijing on climate change measures before November’s election. The Biden administration wants Beijing to be more aggressive in its plans to slash the driver of global warming.
It’s Podesta’s first trip to China in the role of climate ambassador after John Kerry resigned from the post this year.
“There is a stalemate on climate engagement between the U.S. and China,” said Alan Yu, the Center for American Progress’s vice president, according to the New York Times. “We don’t have a lot of time to really change that.”
Two other major international meetings — the Group of 20 on Nov. 18-19 in Brazil and annual United Nations negotiations on global warming the same week — happen during the Biden administration’s lame duck period some two weeks after the presidential election.
Chinese climate officials Liu Zhenmin and former special envoy Xie Zhenhua are expected to take part in the talks. The talks are expected to center around an agreement hammered out last year, known as the Sunnyland Statement.
That agreement addressed how both countries would increase the speed in developing renewable energy and using less fossil fuels.
