Canadian Minister on Rare China Trip for Talks on Climate, Biodiversity

Canada's Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault leaves Saturday for Beijing to join talks on fighting climate change and preserving biodiversity, the first Canadian minister to go to China in four years. A month ago, U.S. climate envoy John Kerry visited China for similar discussions. Guilbeault, a former advocate for environmental groups including Greenpeace, will attend the annual meeting of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development, a climate advisory group to the Chinese government, from Aug. 28-30. Guilbeault said two important issues he wants to bring up are methane emissions reductions and a global renewable energy target, which is being discussed ahead of the United Nations climate change conference later this year. Guilbeault said he also wants to follow up on a U.N. nature summit hosted by Canada and presided over by China late last year, which culminated in a global deal to protect the ecosystems that prop up half the world's economy. Canada is seeking China's cooperation on the climate despite tensions, including recent allegations that Beijing interfered in the last two federal elections, and after a long standoff involving two Canadian men that ended in 2021. The men were released on the same day in September 2021 when the U.S. Justice Department dropped its extradition request for Meng, and she returned to China.