US Sets Clean-Energy Trade Mission to China

WASHINGTON — The United States on Monday announced it will send a cabinet-level energy and trade mission to China next year to drum up clean-energy business following a breakthrough U.S.-China climate accord.

Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz will lead the business development mission to China in April, the Commerce Department said.

The trade mission is aimed at helping US companies launch or increase their business in the world's second-largest economy and the leading emitter of greenhouse gases.

The mission will include up to 25 top US company executives looking for opportunities in areas such as green buildings, carbon capture utilization and storage, energy efficiency technologies, clean air and water technologies, waste treatment technologies, smart grid and green transportation.

"China will continue to have tremendous energy needs as the country urbanizes and grows its middle class, and American companies have the expertise necessary to serve as partners in building clean and efficient infrastructure," Pritzker said in a statement.

The mission is part of the Obama administration's moves targeting stronger and wider bilateral clean-energy cooperation following the November 12 joint announcement by President Barack Obama and President Xi Jinping on the two countries' post-2020 climate targets, according to the statement.

In a landmark pact with the United States, China committed for the first time to limiting its greenhouse gas output, setting a target date of about 2030 for its emissions to peak. It also pledged that 20% of its energy would come from renewable sources by 2030.

The United States in exchange agreed to cut its emissions by 26% to 28% from 2005 levels by 2025.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2014