By Kate Abnett

BRUSSELS, (Reuters) – The United States’ and the European Union’s climate envoys urged China on Thursday to increase its emissions targets. This added to pressure on China ahead of the COP26 conference at Glasgow.

Three weeks remain before the United Nations’ COP26 summit, and the United States of America and the EU want to encourage other countries that they can fight climate change quicker. China is at the top of this list, accounting for around 28% global emissions.

Frans Timmermans, EU climate policy chief, stated that the Chinese need to be more clear about when their emissions will peak and what plans they have for coal-fired power generation.

About 15% of the emissions are from the United States (second after China) while the EU contributes approximately 8%.

China has set itself a target of being carbon neutral by 2060. It also targets a peak CO2 emission by 2030. However, this is far from the drastic cuts scientists have called for in the last decade to mitigate the effects of climate change.

John Kerry, U.S. climate ambassador said that “we hope China will join our effort to achieve serious enough reductions.”

China has to make a decision about whether or not it wishes to be recognized as both a true leader and as responsible country in global affairs.

China’s President Xi Jinping said last month that it will cease financing coal-fueled international power generation – something analysts claimed could cost $50 billion in planned investments. But, the plan did not include any new domestic plants.

China may take a bold step to reduce emissions, and India and Saudi Arabia are two examples of countries that could be influenced to do so.

Other geopolitical tensions are a major obstacle to efforts to increase climate action.

China and the United States agreed this week to host a virtual meeting before the end of 2012 to boost communication. This is despite increasing strategic rivalry and tensions over Taiwan.