EU, China plan joint statement on climate change, sources say

By Kate Abnett

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Union and China are preparing to agree a joint declaration on tackling climate change at a summit in Beijing on Thursday, EU diplomats told Reuters.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa will visit Beijing on Thursday and meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, among other senior officials.

The climate declaration is not expected to include new pledges, but instead reaffirm the two sides' commitment to address climate change, despite the EU and China being at odds over other issues including trade disputes and Russia's war in Ukraine.

The summit is not expected to yield major agreements or declarations on other issues, said the diplomats, who were granted anonymity to discuss the confidential EU-China summit preparations.

Both China and the EU have pledged to deliver new commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, ahead of this year's U.N. COP30 climate summit in November in Brazil. Both missed a February U.N. deadline to submit their new pledges.

A joint commitment on global warming by the two major economies would also stand in contrast to the stance of U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, which has pulled the world's biggest economy out of global negotiations on climate change and rolled back U.S. CO2-cutting policies.

(Reporting by Kate Abnett; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )