America and China are talking again about climate change

Consensus is rare in UN climate negotiations, but most parties agree on one point. China and America—the two biggest carbon emitters—must talk. So there was understandable relief when, midway through this year’s conference in an Egyptian resort, the two countries agreed to resume a climate-change dialogue that had been frozen since August. Three days later America’s climate envoy, John Kerry, invited his Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenhua, to gatecrash a meeting with the European Union on methane, welcoming him on stage as “a friend of mine”. The 70 or so ministers in the room burst into applause.