Declaration
Declaration
The U.S.-China Climate Leaders Declaration is a first of its kind between multiple community leaders from the United States and China to take parallel steps to address climate change at the state and local level, and is a concrete statement of intent by city, state, and provincial leaders from the United States and China to implement ambitious, verifiable actions to address climate change and simultaneously to support and expand bilateral cooperation and dialogue.
The cities, states, and provinces that endorse the Declaration commit to four actions:
- Establish Ambitious Target(s): Each municipality, county, or region intends to establish or re-establish ambitious and achievable targets and actions to control greenhouse gas emissions, promote low-carbon development, and build climate resilience.
- Report on GHG Inventories: Each municipality, county, or region intends to track and report emissions via regular GHG inventories.
- Establish Climate Action Plans: Each municipality, county, or region intends to create a municipal or regional climate action plan to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and enhance climate resilience.
- Enhance Bilateral Partnership and Cooperation: Recognizing that regular bilateral dialogue and cooperation is essential for sharing best practices and lessons learned, as well as innovating, demonstrating, and deploying low carbon technologies, we have established a U.S.-China Climate Leaders Network, comprised of cities, counties, and regions in the context of U.S.-China Climate-Smart/Low-Carbon Cities Summit, to support sustained partnerships and knowledge-sharing.
The U.S.-China Climate Leaders Declaration was first launched at the 2015 Summit in Los Angeles, where it was signed by a diverse set of over two dozen U.S. and Chinese cities, states, and provinces.
At the 2016 Summit in Beijing, 66 cities, states, provinces, and counties endorsed the Declaration, bringing the total number of endorsers to 77.
To view the full declaration, click the links below.
The U.S.-China Climate Leaders’ Declaration, September 2015