US, Russia Say Will Cooperate To Tackle Climate Change

Russia, one of the world's major producers of oil and gas, has in recent years made commitments and statements suggesting it is taking climate change seriously.

US and Russia said on Monday they would cooperate on climate change despite strained relations, during a visit to Moscow by US climate envoy John Kerry. Kerry, the former secretary of state who has become US President Joe Biden's globe-trotting climate envoy, said "the stakes could not be higher" as he met with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. "We spent years, you and I, negotiating on wars, on chemical weapons, on nuclear weapons, I would say without any reservation this is absolutely as critical, as urgent an initiative," Kerry said. Lavrov said Russia expects "close cooperation" with the US at a COP26 conference in November in Glasgow, adding that Moscow "highly values the importance of the problems on climate change" and that Kerry's three-day visit to be "very timely."