US climate envoy to go to China as talks progress on greenhouse gas cuts
- John Podesta says both nations are focusing on nitrous oxide, which is widely used in industry and has 300 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide
![Smoke rises from a coal-powered power station in Datong, Shanxi province. The US climate envoy John Podesta said talks with China on greenhouse gases are advancing. Photo: AFP](https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/1020x680/public/d8/images/canvas/2024/07/24/ca6cb509-1162-49d2-aaac-9d7d6328d2c0_fe20b753.jpg?itok=8P5_hWaf&v=1721771861)
The top US climate diplomat said on Tuesday that he would travel to China later this year to continue talks on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Envoys from both nations – the two leading greenhouse gas-emitting countries – have been focusing on potent pollutants that are not carbon dioxide, including industrial nitrous oxide, John Podesta, US President Joe Biden’s senior adviser for international climate policy, said.
“It is not often that we find ourselves with an affordable and relatively straightforward way to eliminate emissions equivalent to tens of billions of cars on the road,” Podesta said. “Cutting industrial nitrous oxide pollution is that opportunity.
“So I think we need to seize it together.”
Nitrous oxide (N2O), commonly known as laughing gas, is a greenhouse gas with 300 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide. Its industrial uses are varied, and emissions come from fossil fuel use to fertilisers to semiconductor manufacturing.
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