US, China agree to work together on climate, says White House

The U.S. and China will once again collaborate on issues related to climate change, according to a White House readout of a meeting between President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping. 

The readout said that Biden “underscored” that the countries need to work together to address global challenges including climate change. 

“The two leaders agreed to empower key senior officials to maintain communication and deepen constructive efforts on these and other issues,” the readout stated.

Additional issues that the U.S. and China would work together on include debt relief, health security and food security, according to the White House. 

The resumption of climate collaboration comes after the countries stopped working together on the issue earlier in the year. China halted its cooperation with the U.S. after Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) visit to Taiwan in early August. 

The two countries had agreed to work together on climate change during last year’s global climate summit, known as COP26. The partnership is notable since China and the U.S. are respectively the world’s largest and second-largest emitters of greenhouse gasses. This year’s conference started this month.

Biden and Xi met during the Group of 20 summit in Bali, Indonesia.