New Zealand climate experts say the shock China-US climate cooperation agreement is a game changer that could eclipse outcomes from the COP26 summit, and help clinch agreements there too.
In a surprise announcement the two major powers say the will work together to reduce emission – including methane – and try to keeping warming to 1.5 degrees by taking stronger actions in the next 10 years.
But it is being seen as warning to New Zealand’s agricultural sector that it needs to get serious about cutting methane emissions. Until recently methane has been a low priority globally but that has changed quickly.
A pledge pulled together by the European Union and the US less than two months before COP26 to collectively cut methane by a third by the end of the decade ended up signing on more than 100 countries, including New Zealand.
