China says top climate envoy heading to US for talks

BEIJING

China's top climate envoy will head to the United States for talks with U.S. counterpart John Podesta on Tuesday, Beijing said.

"China's Special Envoy for Climate Change Liu Zhenmin will lead a delegation to the United States from May 7 to 16 to hold talks," Beijing's Ministry of Ecology and Environment said in a statement.

The talks will be the first between the two envoys, and the first between the United States and China on the environment since the U.N.'s COP28 summit in Dubai late last year.

That summit saw nations endorse for the first time a call for an eventual transition away from fossil fuels responsible for global warming.

Prior to the meetings, Liu and Podesta's predecessors met in California for talks that culminated in a joint statement from the world's two largest carbon-emitting nations that helped form a basis for COP28.

Beijing said the two envoys planned "an in-depth exchange of views" on the agreement forged during those talks, known as the Sunnylands Statement on Enhancing Cooperation to Address the Climate Crisis.

They will also discuss "promoting China-U.S. climate cooperation to achieve practical results", Beijing said.