Leaders from around the world are signaling loud and clear that taking action to address climate change is a top priority. As an important step, China, the Republic of Korea, Serbia, and Iceland all formally submitted their greenhouse gas emissions targets this week to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Just last week, I convened the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue with Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew, during which cooperation on climate change was a key area of discussion. China's submission this week delivers on those discussions and the commitment made during our historic joint announcement on climate change last November.

Our two Presidents stood together then – as leaders of the world’s two largest economies – and pledged to take decisive steps to combat the global threat we know we can’t wait any longer to address. ‎ We look forward to continued robust conversations with China in the coming months on remaining issues under negotiation as we head towards the Paris Conference of Parties in December.

Also this week, the U.S. and Brazil – the two countries with the most absolute emissions reductions in the world since 2005 – released a joint statement establishing a joint climate change working group and outlining key areas of cooperation on climate change, with Brazil committing to new renewable energy and sustainable land use goals.

As the alarming impacts of climate change grow more and more frequent, world leaders are working domestically and internationally to enact the changes needed to stave off the worst effects.

These efforts are all the more important as we work globally to set a new pathway forward to decrease harmful emissions and transform to low-carbon economies.

The targets announced this week – in addition to those from the U.S., EU, Mexico, Canada, Switzerland, Norway, Russia, and Japan – represent more than two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions.

While much work remains to be done to secure a durable climate agreement in Paris, I commend these leaders for helping to build momentum towards this goal.

I encourage more countries to come forward with ambitious commitments as we draw closer to this critical meeting.