U.S.-China action on climate change vital to success of UN conference: congressman

The U.S.-China joint announcement to expand the efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions is "a critical precursor" to a successful UN climate agreement in Paris in December, U.S. congressman Rick Larsen said Friday.

Larsen, a House Representative from Washington State, was commenting on the U.S.-China joint presidential statement on climate change released Friday after Chinese President Xi Jinping held a summit with his U.S. counterpart, Barack Obama, in the White House during Xi's first state visit.

China plans to start its national emission trading system in 2017 and vows to increase the share of green buildings to 50 percent in newly built buildings in cities and towns by 2020 and the share of public transport in motorized travel to 30 percent in big- and medium-sized cities by 2020. Meanwhile, the United States will move forward to implement the Clean Power Plan in 2016.

"U.S.-China relations are in a phase of hope and hurdles, and our climate change efforts fall under the heading of hope. The world's two biggest economies must lead by example," Larsen said in a statement.

The U.S.-China joint action also "paves a smoother way" to the UN climate change conference, said Larsen, who met with President Xi during his two-and-half-day stop in Washington State before heading to Washington D.C. Thursday.

"Other countries, and even voices within our own country, have cited China's refusal to adopt greenhouse gas reductions as an excuse not to start their own efforts. That excuse is now gone," Larsen said.

"Working together to fight a defining challenge facing our world could be one of the most substantial environmental achievements in world history," Larsen said. Endi