China, US agree to revive climate action working group

The news: The United States and China have agreed to revive a bilateral climate action working group ahead of a United Nations climate summit later this month. The two governments said the group would focus on "energy transition, methane, circular economy and resource efficiency, low-carbon and sustainable provinces/states and cities, and deforestation", according to a joint statement released by the US State Department.

The context: The statement comes after US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry and China Special Envoy for Climate Change Xie Zhenhua met in California earlier this month, and with Chinese leader Xi Jinping currently in San Francisco where he is due to meet US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of APEC.

The two sides agreed climate change posed one of the "greatest challenges of our time" and the effort would see them "engage in dialogue and cooperation to accelerate concrete climate actions in the 2020s". The COP28 summit will be hosted in Abu Dhabi later this month.