World's two biggest carbon polluters, U.S. and China, agree to resume climate negotiations

The U.N. climate talks in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt received an unexpected boost on Monday as U.S. President Joe Biden and China's leader Xi Jinping – representing the world's two biggest emitters of carbon pollution – agreed to resume climate negotiations over cuts in greenhouse gases.

Biden and Xi signaled a deal was struck after a three-hour meeting in Bali, Indonesia on the sidelines of a Group of 20 major economies summit. Beijing had suspended climate talks with Washington in August to protest a visit to Taiwan by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California.

That could add a jolt of momentum to talks at the U.N. Climate Change Conference, known as COP27, which began a week ago and will conclude next weekend. So far they've bogged down with negotiators unable to resolve a raft of sticking points before high-level delegations take over.