The U.S. And China Inch Toward Cooperation On Climate — Thrilling Other Countries

One month after U.S. and Chinese officials publicly attacked each other at their first summit of the Biden administration, the two governments issued a rare joint statement on April 17 saying they share a major goal: tackling “the climate crisis… with the seriousness and urgency that it demands.”

The commitment offered a big reason for optimism about the global fight against climate change. Coming just before President Joe Biden’s high-profile international climate summit on April 22 and 23, the pledge suggested that the world’s two largest emitters of greenhouse gases can stay on the same page on climate issues even as they argue over a sprawling array of other subjects, from human rights to business practices.