COP26, 11 November 2021
The Energy Transitions Commission’s Chair, Lord Adair Turner, welcomes the China-US Joint Declaration on Enhancing Climate Action in the 2020s .
“The joint declaration made by China and the US on Wednesday 10 November is a hugely welcome step forward in climate mitigation discussions, which greatly reinforces the positive impact of COP26.
The declaration correctly expresses alarm at the latest insights from climate science; and it recognises that there is a significant gap between current ambition and what is required to keep global temperature within an acceptable limit of well below 2°C and as close to 1.5°C as possible. We therefore welcome the statement committing both China and the US to accelerated action in order to reduce emissions during the 2020s.
The language in the joint declaration matches very closely to that of the Mitigation section in the UK Presidency’s draft Cover Text on Decisions reached at COP, and also goes beyond it in respect to methane emissions reductions.
We therefore urge all countries to support the draft text and to commit to the same strengthening of NDC commitments to which China and US have now committed.
If this can be achieved, COP26 will mark a major step towards limiting global warming to 1.5°C, with country NDC commitments aligning with the technological ability and ambition reflected in multiple sectoral and country coalition commitments over the last 11 days.”
Media contact: Caroline Randle, Energy Transitions Commission [email protected] | +44 7796 140461