By Mathew Carr

Jan. 24, 2021 — LONDON: China’s plans to cut emissions to net zero by 2060 should not stand, according to John Kerry, the U.S. climate envoy.

“We don’t want that to stand. We need to get down from 2060,” Kerry told a virtual meeting with U.S. mayors on the weekend.

“If that’s happening with the largest emitter in the world, we’re all going to lose credibility,” Kerry said. See this, about 37 minutes in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rSNSsWC-Yg

Thirty eight states covering 80% of the U.S. population “kept going” on emission cuts despite Trump’s anti-climate-action stance, Kerry said. The nation needs to press on “with humility,” he said. “They are not going to believe us when we just say it, we have to do it,” he said after speaking with European leaders calling for more ambitious climate action.

See this report on Kerry’s earlier remarks from last week:

Trump’s Paris withdrawal was ‘reckless’ – John Kerry

Kerry called on U.S. states to keep up their downward pressure on emissions. All nations need to set targets for 2025 and/or 2030 “so everyone can understand it’s not fake. It’s not a phony, empty promise. It really is getting real.”

The 2050 target for net zero is “a global target. We have to be there by 2050,” Kerry said.

China, the most populous nation and biggest emitter, is seeking to cap emissions by 2030: http://carrzee.org/2021/01/09/china-seen-capping-emissions-in-the-five-years-from-2026/

U.S. emissions probably plunged last year amid the pandemic: http://carrzee.org/2021/01/12/the-u-s-has-cut-emissions-by-the-biggest-amount-in-history-for-a-single-nation/