After years of pursuing global emission reductions through multilateral agreements, more confrontational tides in international relations, intensified by U.S.-China rivalry, might unexpectedly drive stronger climate action. A great power competition for leadership in green technology and future market dominance could ultimately favor the climate.

The planet is heating up – and so are global geopolitics. With less than two months until the crucial United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, the United States and China must commit to cooperate on the existential challenge global warming represents. But bilateral relations remain burdened by mistrust, antagonism, and even warmongering.

Xi was the first national leader to speak after Biden, emphasizing the need to advance global environmental governance.

As China-U.S. relations deteriorate, communication and cooperation on energy and environmental issues have ground to a halt. Yet climate cooperation between the two largest polluters during the Paris climate conference in 2015 provides some lessons to be learned.

China’s pledge in September to pursue carbon neutrality by 2060 was followed by a similar pledge from Japan a month later. With these commitments being made at a time when the US has withdrawn from the Paris climate accord, it is easy to interpret them as part of the ongoing geopolitical competition for global leadership. But managing climate change is not a zero-sum game. Here, national competition to strengthen ambitions and policies benefits everyone.

As the Convention on Biological Diversity prepares to reconvene in 2020, it’s time to reflect on the efficacy of the convention’s efforts over the last 10 years. As the host next year, China could spur the world to greater action on biodiversity conservation.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Washington could "conceivably" re-enter into the global Paris climate agreement.

Foreign policy experts on both sides of the aisle predicted that President Trump’s decision to take the U.S. out of the world’s most significant agreement to fight climate change would leave the U.S. isolated on the issue.

Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli is representing China at the signing ceremony for the Paris Agreement at the United Nations in New York on Friday. China will be joining the United States, India and over 100 other nations in signing the agreement on the first day it is open for signing.

President Obama and President Xi Jinping of China said Thursday that they would sign the Paris Agreement on climate change on April 22, the first day the United Nations accord will be open for government signatures.