17 November 2009: US President Barak Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao issued a Joint Statement based on their discussions in Beijing, China, which includes a section on “Climate Change, Energy and Environment.”
In the Joint Statement, the two leaders underscored that climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time and “are convinced of the need to address climate change in a manner that respects the priority of economic and social development in developing countries and are equally convinced that transitioning to a low-carbon economy is an opportunity to promote continued economic growth and sustainable development in all countries.” They further “resolve to take significant mitigation actions and recognize the important role that their countries play in promoting a sustainable outcome” from the climate change negotiations, and indicate that the outcome should “include emission reduction targets of developed countries and nationally appropriate mitigation actions of developing countries,” as well as “scale up financial assistance to developing countries” and promote technology development, dissemination and transfer.
The Joint Statement also outlines areas for cooperation between the two countries on several initiatives and projects, including: building on the US-China Memorandum of Understanding to Enhance Cooperation on Climate Change, Energy and Environment, which was formally signed during the November Presidential visit; the Ten Year Framework on Energy and Environment Cooperation (TYF) and a new US-China Energy Efficiency Action Plan under the TYF; a Protocol between the US Department of Energy and the Ministry of Science and Technology and the National Energy Administration of the People’s Republic of China on a Clean Energy Research Center; the launch of a US-China Electric Vehicles Initiative; work to promote 21st century coal technologies and large-scale carbon capture and sequestration demonstration projects; a Memorandum of Cooperation between the US Environmental Protection Agency and the National Development and Reform Commission of China to Build Capacity to Address Climate Change; the launch of the US-China Renewable Energy Partnership; the establishment of the US-China Energy Cooperation Program (ECP); and the launch of a US-China Shale Gas Resource Initiative. [The US-China Joint Statement] [US-China Clean Energy Announcements]