White House: China needs to come to table in ’serious way’ on climate

President Obama will talk with Chinese President Xi Jinping about climate change and the ongoing negotiations to forge a global treaty during his visit to China this week, according to White House officials.

Obama and Xi plan to hold a walk-and-talk, and a bilateral meeting on Tuesday, which will likely touch on climate change issues.

{mosads}“I’d expect there to be a discussion around our cooperation on clean energy and climate change as our two countries prepare for the ongoing international climate negotiations heading into next year,” said Ben Rhodes, deputy national security advisor.

Rhodes said Obama will also talk to Xi about enlisting China in regional and global efforts to tackle climate change.

“We want them to play a bigger role,” Rhodes said.

“We want them to be a part of international climate negations because you can’t deal with climate change unless China is coming to the table in a serious way,” he added.

A fact sheet released by the White House on Tuesday detailed areas of cooperation among the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member economies to increase resiliency to natural disasters and climate change.

“APEC economies will expand collaborative efforts to develop emergency response mechanisms, strengthen energy infrastructure, and increase timely, relevant, and reliable data” on climate change, the fact sheet said.

A separate release from the White House said that APEC leaders also are working to double renewable energy usage by 2030, and renew commitments to phase out fossil fuel subsidies.