“We rose to the occasion,” crowed Egypt’s foreign minister. Hardly. The summit was a disappointment—but the modest breakthrough between two superpowers offers some hope
Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitaskprocess on the road, it was worthwhile. But the money that has been pledged is paltry: about $260m. And countries have yet to agree on who should pay and who should receive the cash. Under the bizarre terms of the, China—after America, the second-largest total emitter in history—would count as a “developing country” and so be a suitable recipient. Rich countries say, correctly, that China is far from poor and ought to be a donor.
Yet more hopefully, as delegates from across the world wrangled in Egypt, there was a modest breakthrough between two superpowers. China agreed toabout climate change with America . It is astonishing that these talks were ever suspended, given that the two countries create about 40% of global annual carbon emissions.
Acting together, China and America can make a huge difference. In 2014 Mr Xi and America’s then president, Barack Obama, issued a statement calling climate change “one of the greatest threats facing humanity” and setting goals for curbing it. This laid the groundwork for the Paris accord of 2015, aagreement to limit global warming to “well below” 2°C.
In January Ms Pelosi will be succeeded by a Republican, who may find some new way to scupper Sino-American climate talks. In the longer term Mr Xi’s aim is to hobble American power, and he seems unjustifiably dismissive of the idea that climate change will unleash more and nastier natural disasters on China .
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