北京——美国驻北京最高外交官表示，中国和美国在应对气候变化方面的合作经历了“非常好的一年”，但华盛顿仍在推动北京采取更雄心勃勃的碳减排目标中国说。

美国大使馆二号官员大卫·梅勒(David Meale)表示，中国在燃煤方面的所作所为对于世界能否实现2015年巴黎气候协议设定的在本世纪末将全球变暖控制在1.5摄氏度(2.7华氏度)的目标至关重要。

中国是世界上最大的能源消费国，也是最大的煤炭生产国和消费国，其二氧化碳排放量占世界的27%，是所有国家中最多的。

然而，到目前为止，中国还没有表现出打算提前到2060年实现净零碳排放——比许多国家晚10年——以及碳排放在2030年或之前达到峰值，大使馆临时代办米莱说。

参议院尚未批准乔·拜登总统提名的前国务院高级官员尼古拉斯·本恩斯为驻华大使。

“对我们的合作来说，这是非常好的一年，”米莱说，他提到了气候特使约翰·克里和谢振华之间的密切关系和定期沟通。

中国有时似乎表示，将把气候变化合作与两国间的其他问题联系起来。然而，梅莱指出，上个月在格拉斯哥举行的第26届缔约方大会上达成的美中十年合作减排协议表明了中国的参与意愿。

“这是一个非常积极的结果，我们计划在未来的双边接触中继续推进这一成果...去一个速度更快、数字看起来更好的地方，”他说。

尽管华盛顿和北京在许多领域存在分歧，“但这是我们非常有成效地合作的一个领域，”米莱说。

梅勒在周五的新闻发布会上对记者发表了讲话，但他的评论被禁止到周一。

尽管在碳减排方面“没有一个国家是我们需要去的地方”，但中国由于严重依赖煤炭而发挥着巨大的作用，Meale说。

他说:“世界正在努力实现的1.5摄氏度的目标正处于危险之中，如果我们要达到我们需要达到的目标，我们将不得不不断提高我们的雄心，不断采取新的步骤，没有什么比中国的所作所为更重要了。

“因此，我们非常需要参与、交流专业知识、合作思考，来问问自己，中国如何才能提高雄心和时间表，以便我们能够拯救1.5的目标，”Meale说。

他说，中国的行动将“有望让其他国家对世界在气候变化问题上的走向充满信心，也将激励他们提高自己的雄心壮志”。

中国领导人Xi今年在联合国发表讲话时表示，中国不会在海外新建燃煤电厂。但美国外交官表示，中国似乎将继续推进已经签署合同的工厂，目前尚不清楚中国的银行未来是否会继续为这些项目提供资金。

Xi的承诺对国内发展没有影响，中国继续在国内快速建设燃煤电厂。随着太阳能和风能的使用越来越多，中国已将其对煤炭的依赖占能源生产的比例从70%以上略微降至57%左右。

最近几个月，中国还增加了煤炭产量，以确保冬季供暖的稳定供应，这被米莱称为“具有挑战性的短期发展”。

“它所带来的焦点是从碳氢化合物过渡的基本挑战之一，为此我们需要有效的过渡计划和行动，”他说。

几十年的快速经济增长极大地扩大了中国的能源需求。然而，米莱说，美国已经表明，一个国家可以在减少排放的同时继续发展经济。

“我们都将不得不考虑权衡和过渡，以及如何把它们做好。美国绝对如此。它带来了棘手的政治问题，也带来了棘手的科学问题，”他说。

Xi缺席格拉斯哥会谈招致了美国总统乔·拜登的批评和对中国减少温室气体排放承诺的质疑。Xi已经快两年没有离开中国了。

Top US diplomat says China needs more ambitious climate goal

BEIJING -- China and U.S. had a “very good year” for collaboration on dealing with climate change, but Washington is still pushing Beijing to adopt more ambitious carbon reduction goals, the top U.S. diplomat inChinasaid.

David Meale, the American Embassy's No. 2 official, said that what China does on burning coal will be crucial to whether the world can meet its target of capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) by the end of the century, as set by the 2015 Paris climate accord.

China, the world’s largest energy consumer and biggest producer and consumer of coal, emits 27% of the world's carbon dioxide, the most of any country.

So far, however, China has shown no intention of moving up its timeline to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2060 — 10 years later than many nations — and for carbon emissions to peak by 2030 or before, said Meale, the embassy's chargé d’affaires.

The Senate has yet to approve President Joe Biden’s nominee for ambassador to Beijing, former senior State Department official Nicholas Burns.

“It has been a very good year for our collaboration," Meale said, citing the close relationship and regular communication between climate envoys John Kerry and Xie Zhenhua.

China has at times appeared to indicate it would tie cooperation on climate change to other issues between the countries. However, Meale cited the U.S.-China deal to work harder together to cut emissions this decade, reached last month at COP26 in Glasgow, as an indication of China's willingness to engage.

“This is a very positive outcome and one we plan to build on in our bilateral engagement going forward and ... get to a place where things are speeded up, where the numbers look better," he said.

While Washington and Beijing have many areas of disagreement, “this is one area where we are cooperating and cooperating very productively,” Meale said.

Meale spoke to reporters at a briefing on Friday but his comments were embargoed until Monday.

While “no country is where we need to be" on carbon reduction, China plays an outsize role because of its heavy dependence on coal, Meale said.

“The 1.5 Celsius goal that the world is working toward is in danger and if we’re going to get where we need to go, we’re going to have to keep raising our ambition, keep taking new steps and nowhere is that going to be more important than in what China does," he said.

"So there is an extraordinary need for engagement, exchange of expertise, collaborative thinking to ask ourselves, how can China step up its ambition and step up its timeline so that we can rescue the 1.5 goal,” Meale said.

China's actions will “hopefully give confidence to other countries about where the world is going on the climate change question, will also inspire them raise their own ambition," he said.

In an address this year to the United Nations, Chinese leader Xi Jinping said China would not build new coal-fired plants overseas. Bu it appears China will proceed with those plants for which it has already signed contracts, and it remains unclear whether Chinese banks will continue to finance such projects in future, U.S. diplomats said.

Xi's pledge had no effect on domestic developments and China has continued to build coal-fired plants within the country at a rapid pace. With the growing use of solar and wind power, China has slightly cut its dependence on coal as a proportion of energy production from more than 70% to around 57%.

China has also ramped up coal production in recent months to ensure a steady supply for winter heating, something Meale called a “challenging short-term development."

“What it is bringing focus to is one of the fundamental challenges of transitioning away from hydrocarbons (for which) we need effective transition plans and actions," he said.

Decades of rapid economic growth have dramatically expanded China’s energy needs. However, Meale said the U.S. has already shown that a country can continue to grow its economy while reducing emissions.

“We're all going to have to look at the tradeoffs and the transitions and how to get those right. That is absolutely true of the United States. It brings up difficult political issues and it brings up difficult questions of science," he said.

Xi's absence from the Glasgow talks drew criticism from President Joe Biden and questions about China’s commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Xi has not left China in almost two years.