Isra-Mart srl:Clinton: "No time to delay" for US-China climate agreement

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Climate change is expected to be near the top of the agenda as US president Barack Obama prepares to meet his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao during Hu's state visit to Washington.

Speaking in a wide-ranging address on US-China relations late last week, secretary of state Hillary Clinton said that efforts to combat climate change represented one of many areas where the two superpowers must step up co-operation.

"Our co-operation at the UN climate conference in Mexico was critical to the conclusion of the Cancún agreement," Clinton said during an address at the state department on Friday. "Now, we must build on that progress by implementing the agreements on transparency, funding and clean energy technology."

She added that a deal between the US and China was critical to the chances of an international treaty being agreed at the UN's annual climate change summit in South Africa this December.

"There is no time to delay, and the United States and China, working with other partners, including the EU, Japan and India, will set the pace and direction for the world to move rapidly towards a clean energy future," she said, adding that it was time for "both nations to translate the high-level pledges of summits and state visits into action".

The US and China have repeatedly been accused of blocking international climate change negotiations by refusing to compromise on a number of key issues, such as binding emission targets for industrialised and developing countries and the formation of an inspection regime for monitoring, reporting and verifying emission reductions.

However, last year's Cancun summit reportedly saw a greater degree of co-operation between the two nations and delivered a preliminary agreement on the verification of emissions targets – progress on which the Obama administration is keen to build this week.