Relations between Washington and Beijing have since been strained by a protracted trade dispute. "You will never solve the problem unless you have China in the solution," Bloomberg, who stepped down as a U.N. special envoy on climate change last month, told reporters. "Responding to climate change is a joint global effort, no one should be absent," Zhao told reporters in response to a question about U.S. moves to leave the Paris accord. Nevertheless, former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who served under Obama and was a leading player in brokering the Paris Agreement, said the absence of U.S. leadership was undermining global climate action. "We are at a critical stage in terms of being behind (our targets) and the absence of U.S. leadership is one component," Kerry told Reuters at the talks.

Source: International New York Times December 10, 2019 15:00 UTC