Former United States climate envoy John Kerry has urged the world's two largest economies to maintain direct dialogue on climate change, saying that the US should be willing to "sit down with China" and that global targets cannot be met without sustained cooperation between Washington and Beijing.

Speaking at a discussion at the Council on Foreign Relations, a US think tank based in New York City, on Monday, Kerry said China's role is indispensable in shaping global climate outcomes. "You can't really make anything happen if China isn't on board," he said.

The discussion was held amid the two-week United Nations climate change conference in the city of Belem, located at the gateway to the Amazon in Brazil, where delegates from nearly 200 countries have been trying to ramp up multilateral action to limit climate change, despite the absence of the US.

The UN climate talks were originally scheduled to wrap up on Friday.

"I know that's heresy in a lot of places," Kerry said of his call to "sit down with China".

He noted that previous breakthroughs — including the US-China joint announcement leading to the Paris Agreement in 2015 — showed how coordinated action between the two powers can shift international momentum.

Kerry recalled being present when former US president Joe Biden met Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Group of 20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia, in November 2022, when Biden said that climate change "is a universal issue" and "not a … bilateral issue".

Biden also said that "if China and the US do … things happen," Kerry said.

Kerry said that China's emissions could begin falling sooner than anticipated, even though Beijing has not changed its 2030 carbon peak emissions target and its 2060 carbon neutrality goal.

Kerry acknowledged China's recent coal construction but explained that the new capacity is intended as a safeguard against potential electricity shortages.

"That additional coal I don't think is going to get lit up," he said.

Vijay Vaitheeswaran, global energy and climate innovation editor at The Economist and moderator of the event, cited his colleagues' recent 10-page special report from China in describing the country's clean-energy expansion.

Vaitheeswaran said China's surge in low-cost solar, wind and battery technologies is "a gift to the planet", noting the "extraordinary expansion in solar" in Pakistan and growth across "the Sun Belt countries, all on the back of inexpensive Chinese technology".

"It doesn't matter to the atmosphere where the cuts are made," he said.

huanxinzhao@chinadailyusa.com