US climate envoy John Kerry: Washington, Beijing working on emissions group

Davos (Switzerland), May 24 (AP) U.S. climate envoy John Kerry says the U.S. and China are making progress on putting together a group to work toward quickly reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Kerry told The Associated Press during the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos that the the world's two largest emitters of greenhouse gases are close to agreeing on the structure of the group and how decisions would be made.

He says “we are going to work on the practicalities of how we move faster” to reduce emissions. Kerry noted that “maybe we can help with technology of some kind to help China move faster. Maybe China could help us better understand some things we could do better.” The agreement was reached during the U.N. climate summit last year in Glasgow, Scotland. For the first time, China agreed to crack down on methane leaks. On Tuesday, Kerry said that reducing coal consumption would also be a central focus for the group.

Kerry says he was hopeful that climate change legislation in Congress was still possible. There's no sign of progress, or even movement.

When asked whether he planned to step down soon, as some have speculated with Congress stalled on climate legislation, Kerry said “nobody is going to be in one job forever" but he wasn't planning to move on.

He says he's working toward the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Egypt in November. (AP) MRJ