U.S. and China to Sign Global Climate Agreement April 22

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama and China’s President Xi Jinping announced Thursday that their two countries would sign a global climate accord on April 22, a move that senior U.S. officials said should compel other countries to formally join the agreement and advance steps to cut carbon emissions.

“Our hope is that as that process proceeds, you will see growing momentum toward having this agreement enter into force early and swiftly,” said Brian Deese, a senior adviser to Mr. Obama. “That will help build the critical momentum that we all saw coming out Paris.”

The climate deal, completed last year in Paris, was forged by more than 190 nations, but U.S.-China cooperation was key to securing commitments from around the world. Mr. Obama planned to meet Thursday with Mr. Xi at a summit in Washington focused on global nuclear concerns.

A joint statement from the two countries said that “climate change has become a pillar of the U.S.-China bilateral relationship.”

For Mr. Obama, completing the accord was the pinnacle of a yearslong effort to create a global framework for curbing climate change and to secure his own environmental legacy.

In the U.S., legal challenges to the Obama administration’s plan to limit carbon emissions from power plants could hamper efforts to follow through on commitments in the Paris climate accord. The Supreme Court has temporarily blocked the power-plant regulation, a setback for Mr. Obama’s climate-change initiatives.

Mr. Deese said Thursday that the U.S. has the capacity to meet its international commitments, adding that the administration’s climate policy is on solid legal footing.

Write to Colleen McCain Nelson at colleen.nelson@wsj.com