Donald Trump was succinct when asked how the United States should respond to climate change. "It's not a big problem at all," the leader in opinion polls for the Republican presidential nomination told a radio talk show host on Monday. "If you look at China, they're doing nothing about it."
Later in the week, however, Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to take new measures on climate change. Standing alongside President Barack Obama at the White House, he committed his country to a series of ambitious policies aimed at countering the rise in global temperatures.
Xi said China would introduce a national cap-and-trade system in 2017 that would limit carbon emissions across major industrial sectors, from electricity to iron and steel production. He also pledged to match tougher U.S. fuel standards on heavy trucks planned for 2019, and committed $3.1 billion to help poor countries adapt to climate change.