SEOUL, 19 April, 2021 (TON): Just few days earlier President Joe Biden’s virtual summit of world leaders to discuss the issue, the U.S. and China agreed to cooperate curb climate change with urgency.

According to a joint statement, the agreement was reached by U.S. special envoy for climate John Kerry and his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua during two days of talks in Shanghai last week.

The statement said, “The two countries are committed to cooperating with each other and with other countries to tackle the climate crisis, which must be addressed with the seriousness and urgency that it demands."

On Sunday, in a meeting with the reporters in Seoul, Kerry said the language in the statement is strong and that the two countries agreed on "critical elements on where we have to go.

But the former secretary of state said, "I learned in diplomacy that you don't put your back on the words, you put on actions. We all need to see what happens."

Biden has invited 40 world leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, to the 22-23 April summit.

China is the world's biggest carbon emitter, followed by the United States. The two countries pump out nearly half of the fossil fuel fumes that are warming the planet's atmosphere.

However, their cooperation is a key to success of global efforts to curb climate change, but frayed ties over human rights, trade and China's territorial claims to Taiwan and the South China Sea have been threatening to undermine such efforts.