By Valerie Volcovici
BEIJING (Reuters) - U.S.&nbsp;climate&nbsp;envoy John Kerry said it was "imperative that&nbsp;China&nbsp;and the United States make real progress" in the four months before U.N.-sponsored&nbsp;climate&nbsp;talks&nbsp;begin in Dubai, as waves of&nbsp;extreme&nbsp;heat and rainfall hit large parts of the globe.
While Kerry met his counterpart Xie Zhenhua in the Chinese capital Beijing on Monday in efforts to rebuild trust between the world's top two greenhouse gas emitters, severe heat warnings had been declared in Italy, Greece and the United States.
Floods have already killed 40 people in South Korea and at least five in the U.S. northeast, with unusually heavy rainfall in India also forcing the evacuation of hundreds of people in the capital New Delhi.
China&nbsp;has also experienced months of record-breaking heat and&nbsp;extreme&nbsp;weather, with readings at one&nbsp;weather&nbsp;station in the far northwestern region of Xinjiang on Sunday hitting an all-time high of 52.2 degrees Celsius&nbsp;(126 Fahrenheit).
"Floods and intensive storms happen with greater frequency than ever before ... Fires devour millions of acres of forest every year," Kerry said as delegates gathered in a conference room overlooking Beijing's Forbidden City on Monday morning.
"It is toxic for both Chinese and for Americans and for people in every country on the&nbsp;planet."
Kerry urged&nbsp;China&nbsp;to partner with the United States to cut methane emissions and reduce the&nbsp;climate&nbsp;impact of coal-fired power, with the two sides&nbsp;aiming to restore relations following a suspension in&nbsp;talks&nbsp;last year.
"In the next three days we hope we can begin taking some big steps that will send a signal to the world about the serious&nbsp;purpose of&nbsp;China&nbsp;and the United States to address a common risk, threat, challenge to all of humanity created by humans themselves," Kerry said.
This week's meetings, which will continue until Wednesday, will have no formal schedule but are expected to focus&nbsp;on the abatement of methane and other non-CO2 emissions, as well as the run-up to the COP28 global&nbsp;climate&nbsp;talks&nbsp;starting in November.
China's reliance on coal is also likely to be on the agenda. Kerry praised the "incredible job"&nbsp;China&nbsp;has been doing in building up renewable energy capacity but said it had been&nbsp;undercut by the construction of new coal power plants.
China&nbsp;has pledged to start reducing coal consumption, but not until 2026, and new coal power project approvals have accelerated since last year.
"MUTUAL TRUST"
Kerry's third visit to&nbsp;China&nbsp;as U.S.&nbsp;climate&nbsp;envoy marks the formal resumption in top-level&nbsp;climate&nbsp;diplomacy between the two countries. The former Secretary of State is the third U.S. official to visit Beijing in recent weeks as&nbsp;China&nbsp;and the U.S.&nbsp;aim&nbsp;to stabilise their broader bilateral relationship.
China's Xie said on Monday that the two&nbsp;climate&nbsp;envoys could play a role in improving tense relations between the two countries.
The two met on Sunday night for a one-on-one dinner. Kerry complimented Xie for being back at work after overcoming illness. Both referred to each other as friends.
"Yesterday after we met each other, I did a little calculation," Xie said. "I counted that since the two of&nbsp;us&nbsp;have been appointed special envoys, we have met 53 times."
But despite cordial relations between the two veteran envoys,&nbsp;underlying tensions between the two sides could still hamper progress this week.
Talks&nbsp;were suspended last year following the visit of U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, a democratically governed island that&nbsp;China&nbsp;claims.
Beijing has also accused the United States of unfairly criticising&nbsp;China's&nbsp;climate&nbsp;record while failing to meet its own pledges, particularly when it comes to financing&nbsp;climate&nbsp;action in poorer countries.
China&nbsp;has also bristled at U.S. calls that it should do more to cut greenhouse gases, saying it is a developing country with historical emissions that remain significantly lower than those of the United States.
A senior State Department official said efforts to force developing countries to shoulder more of the burden of emission cutting will be a "point of contention" with&nbsp;China, which says it is inconsistent with the Paris agreement.
"I think that Kerry and Mr. Xie have a very strong partnership, they have mutual trust," said Zhang Haibin, Associate Dean at the School of International Studies at Peking University.
"But you know, looking to the future ... There is a lot of uncertainty. U.S. domestic politics is now in the next presidential election already. U.S. domestic politics is very complicated."
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(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici, Andrew Hayley and the Beijing Newsroom; Writing by David Stanway; Editing by Sonali Paul and Jacqueline Wong)

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