John Kerry’s trip to China last week provided hope for global efforts to tackle the climate crisis. It also showed that despite their deeply fractured relationship, the world’s two largest economies were trying to address the greatest threat to humanity. Mr Kerry, the United States’ special envoy for climate change, held several days of talks with his counterpart, Mr Xie Zhenhua. The two men have worked closely on climate issues for years and have a strong rapport. While there was no agreement out of this initial round of discussions, the first in nearly a year, Mr Kerry said more talks were planned in the coming weeks. He said both sides had reached consensus on a number of issues and that an agreement could emerge from subsequent discussions, building on past US-China climate agreements.

This is heartening news. Leadership from China and the US is vital ahead of the United Nations COP28 climate talks just four months away. Many issues remain unresolved ahead of that key meeting in Dubai, including climate finance for poorer nations, a global agreement to ramp up green energy investment and a timeline to phase out fossil fuels. US-China leadership was instrumental in the adoption of the 2015 Paris Agreement, and COP28 will need these giant nations – the world’s two largest greenhouse gas polluters – working together.