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China and the US are working together on cutting carbon emissions despite the deadlock over a broader global agreement on fighting climate change, according to the head of the US Environmental Protection Administration.
“My hope is that we will see continued progress on the issues. They are vitally important,” EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, in Shanghai after attending UN climate talks in northern China’s Tianjin last week.
Modest progress at the Tianjin talks was eclipsed by the acrimonious standoff between China and the US over monitoring and verification of efforts by developing nations to curb the greenhouse gas emissions that are blamed for global warming.
Countries remain at odds over how to split the burden of emission cuts and how to verify them.
The US wants China and other developing countries to commit to mandatory, rather than just voluntary goals. Beijing, meanwhile, accuses the US and other wealthy countries of failing to make cuts in carbon emissions commensurate with their massive historical contribution to the problem.
Jackson said that despite a barrage of complaints from China and other developing countries that the US and other wealthy nations are failing to commit to substantial reductions in carbon emissions, America is making clear progress.
“Part of the message I’ve hopefully conveyed to my counterparts and the other people I’ve met during this trip is that the US is already started on reducing carbon emissions,” Jackson told reporters.
“We regulate greenhouse gases in the US We monitor and require emissions to be reported in the US We have rules that are phasing in, slowly, regulations for reducing emissions from stationary sources,” she said.
Despite acrimony at the diplomatic level, those working on China’s own environmental protection are keen to move ahead on cooperation aimed at improving the country’s heavily polluted air, water and soil, Jackson said.
“I have found nothing but interest and enthusiasm among my counterparts for making further gains. It’s simply because of the fact that China cannot be fully sustainable on the track it is on without considering issues related to air and water quality,” she said, noting the daunting challenges also faced in the US.
Jackson was due later Wednesday to visit a joint air quality monitoring project in Shanghai, which aims to monitor and measure real-time emissions data, which she described as “crucial for goal setting,” as China works to improve its own air quality.
Jackson did not elaborate, however, on any details of specific progress that might help to bridge the logjam over climate change goals before next month’s meeting in Cancun, Mexico, which aim to secure a binding deal to curb greenhouse gases.
The talks are meant to craft a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol, which legally mandated modest emissions reductions and expires in 2012.
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