That left a huge gap. The world’s two top-polluting countries had for many years set the course for the rest of the world — albeit at a pace far too slow to avoid warming the planet to catastrophic levels.
Even in the hours before its leaders were to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday, there was no guarantee of a deal. But on Wednesday afternoon EU diplomats were told the statement would go ahead, according to two of those informed, who were granted anonymity in order to discuss the talks.
If an agreement comes, there’s no certainty it will be meaningful.
Regardless, experts say a joint statement between the leaders of the EU and China, being floated for Thursday’s summit, could be a much-needed boost for jittery clean energy markets and give political confidence to other nations’ governments to further cut their own emissions.
“This is a moment the EU and China cannot afford to miss,” said Ireland’s former President Mary Robinson, a prominent voice in climate diplomacy. “EU-China climate cooperation can help steady markets, accelerate the clean energy transition and show that even in a moment of division, climate action remains one of the surest paths to resilience.”
On Thursday, Ursula von der Leyen and António Costa, presidents of the European Commission and European Council — which writes the bloc’s legislation and represents the national leaders, respectively — will meet Xi and Premier Li Qiang in Beijing for talks including on security, economics and trade.
