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THE LATEST ON KERRY IN CHINA: U.S. climate envoy John Kerry met with his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua in Beijing for roughly four hours today as the two sides forge ahead on climate negotiations after nearly a year of inaction.
Kerry’s visit is the third trip U.S. officials have made to Beijing in the last five weeks, following Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
But unlike those trips, which ended with loose commitments from both countries to keep the door open for further dialogue, officials hope Kerry and Xie can take more tangible steps—especially with the U.N.-sponsored climate talks in Dubai just four months away.
Deliverables: During the first day of talks, which are expected to run through Wednesday, Kerry called on China to work alongside the U.S. to help slash methane emissions and reduce the impact of coal-fired power generation.
“In the next three days we hope we can begin taking some big steps that will send a signal to the world about the serious purpose of China and the United States to address a common risk, threat, challenge to all of humanity created by humans themselves,” he said.
This week, both countries hope to advance discussions over how to fight climate change within their respective economies, particularly on how to boost cooperation to slash methane emissions. Xie said China has drafted a plan with “concrete measures” to slash methane emissions, according to Reuters—though such a plan has yet to be made public.
Xie acknowledged last year that its ability to control methane emissions remains “weak.” And subsequent reports, including one published by the Beijing-based Innovative Green Development Program in April, suggested that China’s rising methane levels were putting its non-CO2 climate emissions on track to increase by 50% compared to 2015 levels by 2050, putting carbon neutrality out of reach.
Other key priorities include making progress on a so-called “loss and damage” fund for climate change victims, and working together on wind and solar power—an area where China has continued to dominate.
China’s solar power capacity has ballooned in the last decade, with an increase of 150 times its 2012 levels, according to state economic officials. The country’s wind power capacity has also jumped .by six-fold compared to 2012 levels.
What they’re saying: “It is imperative that China and the United States make real progress in the little more than four months” before COP28, Kerry said. “The world and the climate crisis demand that we make progress rapidly and significantly.”
Meanwhile, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said China should be pressured to take action on fighting climate change, saying that they have a responsibility to help cut emissions under the Paris climate agreement, especially as a number of weather-related crises including heat waves and wildfires continue to threaten many parts of the world.
“They should not [be] able to hide behind any kind of claim that they’re a developing nation, to step up to their responsibility,” Sullivan said of China yesterday on CNN’s State of the Union.
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…MEANWHILE, HEAT WAVES BRING PUNISHING HEAT TO MILLIONS GLOBALLY: Against the backdrop of Kerry and Xie’s meeting were heat waves and wildfires threatening millions of people prompting officials to warn of expected record-high temperatures in some parts of the world.
In one northwestern province of China, temperatures reached an all-time high of 126 degrees Fahrenheit, while temperatures in the U.S. put roughly 100 million Americans under extreme heat warnings for yet another day.
“In many parts of the world, today is predicted to be the hottest day on record,” the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Twitter this morning.
Other parts of the world were also affected, including Italy and Greece, which saw another heat wave bringing temperatures of up to 122 degrees Fahrenheit.
FREIGHT TRAIN CARRYING HAZARDOUS MATERIALS DERAILS IN PENNSYLVANIA: A freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed early this morning in Whitemarsh Township, Pennsylvania, prompting “precautionary” evacuations of nearby homes as officials rushed to assess the damage.
According to freight operator CSX, 16 cars on the 40-car freight train derailed, one of which was carrying hazardous materials. CSX also said there is no known hazard to the public, though hazmat crews had been called in as a precaution. Police said the derailment happened shortly before 5 a.m. today.
Gov. Josh Shapiro said he was monitoring the situation.
EU WEIGHS GAS IMPORTS FROM ARGENTINA, NEW DRAFT DOCUMENT SHOWS: The EU is considering gas imports from Argentina, according to a draft memo of understanding, which comes as the bloc races to secure more LNG to replace lost Russian fossil fuels.
Though Argentina is a net gas importer, it plans to expand domestic production at its Vaca Muerta shale formation in Patagonia, according to a draft document seen by Reuters. The document stipulates that any gas trade should not impact Argentina’s own consumption needs, or their countries’ plans to combat climate change.
The effort was met with some skepticism, however. Though Argentina has the world’s second-largest share of unconventional gas reserves, it is still in an energy deficit—and itself imported roughly $5 billion in fuel during months of peak consumption in 2022.
Though the document says the EU and Argentina will work together on renewable energy and hydrogen fuel, some experts expressed skepticism about any near-term benefits for the EU.
“By the time the Argentinean gas comes online – and they don’t even have the full export infrastructure to do so [to export gas to Europe] – I don’t think the European Union will need that gas any longer,” Lisa Fischer, a top official at the climate think tank E2G, told Reuters.
SPR COULD TAKE ‘DECADES’ TO REFILL, EXPERTS SAY: The U.S Strategic Petroleum Reserve could take “decades” to refill after being drained last year to its lowest point in roughly four decades, leaving the U.S. vulnerable to supply shocks and other national security issues in the interim.
Currently, SPR supply stands at just 346.8 million barrels, or about 18 days of supply. And despiste commitments from DOE to refill the stockpile, analysts told Bloomberg that the process is likely to be plagued with a lack of funds and dated infrastructure.
“It would be a very slow process even if you had the money and the facilities were all in good shape,” John Shages, who previously oversaw SPR at DOE, Energy Department, told the outlet. “It could take decades.”
And since oil prices are currently much higher than when most of the inventory was originally created and filled after the Arab oil embargo—a time when average oil prices stood at around $29.70 per barrel, compared to today’s prices of roughly $75 per barrel—it will be much more costly for the U.S. to proceed with its buyback plans.
In addition, the salt caverns that make up the SPR were built with a 25-year lifespan in mind—meaning that the more the system is used, the higher the risk is that the caverns will dissolve, William “Hoot” Gibson, who used to serve as the SPR’s project manager, told Bloomberg.
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