The U.S. and China have also been discussing a global agreement on aviation emissions, though there’s disagreement about what obligations developing countries should face in the first years.
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Obama said that their discussions Saturday would cover the breadth of the U.S. He specifically cited maritime disputes, cybersecurity and human rights, though the president didn’t elaborate during brief remarks in front of reporters at the start of the meeting.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, and US President Barack Obama applaud as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon delivers a speech during a joint ratification of the Paris climate change agreement at the West Lake State Guest House.
Entering the climate agreement has been an intricate exercise in diplomatic choreography.
China is responsible for nearly a quarter of the world’s emissions, with the United States in second place on around 15 percent, so their participation is crucial. Fewer than half of the requisite 55 countries will have joined, but many others have signaled they plan to join in 2016, and the White House has been hopeful the deal can take force before year’s end.
It will come into effect 30 days after at least 55 countries, accounting for 55 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, have ratified it. Together, China and the United States represent 38 percent of the world’s total.
The G-20 leaders and their top aides will descend on Hangzhou for the two-day summit after much of the preliminary communique-drafting has been completed.
Launching his final tour through Asia, President Barack Obama arrived in China on Saturday planning to spotlight U.S.
Obama says there was “no shortage” of cynics who doubted an agreement would ever be reached.
Rice met Chinese dissidents before her last trip to China in late July, when she held talks with President Xi Jinping and other senior officials.
If the agreement is eventually adopted, he said, “we’ll have a truly global climate agreement that will bind the two biggest emitters in the world”. “This is our airport!” the Chinese official yelled.
China and the U.S. together produce around 38% of carbon emissions.
Until Saturday only 24 of the signatories had ratified the accord, including France and many island states threatened by rising sea levels but who only produce a tiny proportion of the world’s emissions.
“China and the U.S., the two largest developing and developed country economies and emitters, joining the Paris Agreement shows that the global community can come together to address the threat of climate change”, said Alvin Lin of the US-based Natural Resources Defense Council.
He credited China and the USA for “working together to achieve a result that none could achieve alone”.
“Britain showed its climate leadership with the Climate Change Act and the crucial role it played in the Paris negotiations”.
The UN chief urged all countries to accelerate their national efforts to join the Paris Agreement so that it comes into force by the end of 2016.
At the ceremony in the Chinese city of Hangzhou, Obama said climate change would “define the contours of this century more dramatically than any other challenge”.
Leaders in the G20 agreed in 2009 to phase out fossil fuels, but are yet to set a firm date, although G7 leaders have said they would do so by 2025, as part of a broader agreement announced past year to decarbonize the global economy.
Xi called the agreement a milestone that marks the “emergence of a global government system” for climate change. That won’t happen until a critical mass of polluting countries joins.
As for its commitments to the climate deal, the USA pledged to cut its emissions 26 percent to 28 percent over the next 15 years, compared to 2005 levels.
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China is also expected to push at the summit for broader action on “green finance”, to help ensure that more of the anticipated $90 trillion-worth of new infrastructure to be built by 2030 is low-carbon, Steer said.
