BERLIN, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- United Nations climate chief Christiana Figueres on Wednesday hailed a joint announcement by China and the United States on climate change as providing momentum towards a new climate agreement in Paris in 2015.
Fiegueres, the Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which organizes UN climate talks, said in a statement that the joint announcement by China and the United States in Beijing to strengthen joint efforts to tackle climate change signals "determination towards addressing the climate change challenge from a growing number of key economies."
"This joint announcement provides both practical and political momentum towards a new, universal climate agreement in Paris in late 2015," she said.
"This positive momentum opens the door for all major economies and in particular all other industrialized nations to bring forward their contributions to the Paris agreement in a timely fashion over the coming months," she added.
Fiegueres said the announcement was "a firm and positive step" towards policy certainty that investors were long called for and would show clearly to the private sector and the financial markets "where global policy is now heading."
The United States said it intends to achieve "an economy-wide target of reducing its emissions by 26 to 28 percent below its 2005 level in 2025" and to make best efforts to reduce its emissions by 28 percent.
China intends to peak its carbon dioxide emissions around 2030 and increase the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to around 20 percent by 2030.