The top climate envoys from the US and China ended five days of face-to-face talks late Wednesday, hailing progress but offering no details of any new initiatives to slow the pace of global warming.

The meetings at the Sunnylands resort in Rancho Mirage, California — originally meant to end a day earlier — are nonetheless feeding hopes that the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters can make headway at the UN climate summit starting in Dubai later this month.

US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate Change John Kerry said the two sides reached “common ground on a number of issues” while China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment said the meetings achieved “positive results.”

Kerry and China’s Special Envoy for Climate Change Xie Zhenhua discussed being more ambitious in paring greenhouse gas emissions and fighting global warming, as well as “efforts to promote a successful COP28,” according to the State Department.

In one sign of goodwill, China on Tuesday issued its long-awaited plan for slashing emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas released from coal mines and rice paddies. The blueprint lays out broad goals around better controlling methane releases, although it doesn’t dictate specific reduction targets.

Author: Jennifer A. Dlouhy