SINGAPORE: United States climate envoy John Kerry voiced hope on Friday that Beijing and Washington would work together more closely on the climate emergency after they struck a pact to accelerate action against greenhouse gas emissions.

Speaking at a forum in Singapore, the former secretary of state emphasised cooperation — even as the rivals spar over other flashpoint issues such as Taiwan. “I hope that our working together will increase the sharing of data, increase the sharing of options and begin to engage us in a very important dialogue with the top leadership of both of our countries,” Kerry said at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum.

“China agreed to work with us to lay out an ambitious — and those are the words — ambitious national action plan, which China must submit and begin acting on by COP 27, a year from now,” he added.

In addition to cutting methane and carbon dioxide emissions, the US-China plan announced in Glasgow will also see the world’s two biggest polluters looking to improve measurement and mitigation in the fossil fuel, waste and agriculture sectors, though the deal has been criticised for lacking specifics.