Climate on Agenda for Obama's China Trip

By SHAI OSTER
BEIJING –Climate change will be among the top issues when President Obama visits China in November, a U.S. official said Wednesday.
China and the U.S., the world's biggest and second biggest emitters of greenhouse gases respectively, have made energy cooperation a keystone of their relationship even though their differences could still derail an international climate change treaty in talks to be held this December in Copenhagen.

Still, the Obama administration is hoping the president's trip here, just ahead of the Copenhagen talks, will result in some concrete steps on energy and technology cooperation.
"I expect clean energy and climate change issues will be high on the agenda during Obama's trip," David Sandalow, U.S. assistant energy secretary, told reporters. "I'm confident that when the two largest energy consumers and producers get together, it will be an important topic of discussion."
Countries meeting in Copenhagen will try to forge a pact on carbon emission reduction targets. China has rejected calls for it to commit to emission caps, arguing that industrialized countries have a historical responsibility to clean up first.
Mr. Sandalow was in China to attend meetings with Chinese energy officials as well as a U.S.-China forum on electric vehicles. Beijing has made developing electric vehicles a priority as a cleaner alternative to the gas-powered cars its growing middle class is buying in record numbers, and several domestic companies have plunged in with big plans to launch new so-called plug-in cars. At the same time, the U.S. has been pushing electric cars for environmental reasons and to revive Detroit's embattled car industry.
China has "the potential to be ahead if the United States does not invest heavily in this technology and in this industry. The Chinese are well positioned to be global leaders in the electric vehicle industry,'' Mr. Sandalow said. "I believe that we've got a lot to learn from each other, and that the world would benefit from us challenging each other in this industry,'' he said.
Write to Shai Oster at shai.oster@wsj.com