What should top the agenda at the Hong Kong Forum on US-China Relations — a pivotal meeting of key stakeholders together with other eminent contributors from around the world — which is taking place in Hong Kong on Nov 9-10?

As a scientist, I try not to comment on overtly political issues. However, sometimes there is a need to bring an important scientific perspective to serious events affecting our planet and where the cooperation, mutual respect, and understanding between the two most powerful nations on Earth needs to be on a firmer footing than has been evident of late.

Perhaps the incontrovertible reality of verified scientific facts delivered by respected scientists can cut through politics and reach the basic level of humanity in us all, and given our collective and individual instincts for survival finally make a real difference.

I am, of course, talking about the one issue that is daily affecting everyone on our fragile planet. It rapidly transforms our hospitable world into a broiling daily mix of severe floods, storms, rain, fire, and drought. Weather records are now being broken more times than our promises to address the existential problem. Make no mistake: What is unfolding is existential for us all. It will make the current Ukraine-Russia and Israel-Palestine conflicts look like a minor tribute act compared to the global conflagration of nature that is emerging day by day, extracting incalculable human and financial costs.

The 2015 Paris Agreement must not be a cop-out, and COP28 — the United Nations climate change conference which is due to take place in Dubai at the end of this month — must be transformed from a talking shop into a shopping list of actions for averting the worst of global climate change. The aspirations of many people to live, work, improve, and survive depend on what we collectively and individually do in the narrowing window of time we have left. 

We need joint, clear and concrete commitments from China and the US as the two powers that have the most clout and influence to be the global leaders in what must be a globally coordinated endeavor where narrow self-interest must be avoided. The multipolar world is real and is here now. There is no ignoring it or stopping it short of a catastrophic global conflict that will do nothing to prevent what is unfolding with our climate and will indeed only make it much worse as our attention is diverted.

Nevertheless, this meeting represents a fresh opportunity for both sides to recalibrate their broad relations to a much wiser, more positive, more influential, and indeed more impactful and productive footing. Indeed, the world is keenly aware of the recent direction of travel between China and the collective West, led, as ever, by the United States. Many non- or less-aligned nations do not like what they see at a time when multiple serious threats from various quarters pose a hazardous risk to global stability and the world economy.

These threats are arising at precisely the time when cooperation and stability need to be both firm and robust. It is for us to have the capacity and laser-like focus required to address the existential challenge of what is now being referred to no longer as climate change but actual climate collapse.

Future generations will neither forgive nor forget the lack of coordinated global action today to minimize the impacts coming tomorrow.

So again, what should be at the top of the agenda for this US-China forum?

The world is counting on China and the US to get along and work together in such trust and mutual respect. This forum can be a valuable part of the positive process that is desperately needed to move the dial forward

 Developing trust and confidence on each side is a fundamental prerequisite for real change and true cooperation. This is so that the content and agenda of this largely bilateral forum can be reliably undertaken in good faith. Indeed, at the heart of all this is the issue of trust. It is more than just the intent and availability of opportunities for joint scientific and technological collaboration in the global fight against climate collapse that matters, but the willingness to engage with these proactively and to really work together. Not mere words but real, solid, accountable action for a much faster, greener transition.

It is the trust in our global partners (because partners we must be if we are really to make a difference) and their trust in us to work together with confidence, security and common purpose. I set great store on developing such trust in my domain because when you have it, it is the most precious commodity that underpins and drives everything forward together.

If we are to prevent climate collapse, it will be the application of science to action that will be needed. China and the US are spending the most and investing the most in research and development globally. This must be more coordinated and focused on our common needs. It is science that is delivering cleaner, greener, more efficient, and sustainable energy generation. It is science that is providing the climate data, measurements, interpretations, and models that can show us what is coming and what we can do to ameliorate the worst. This is whether it is rising sea levels, disappearing or burning forests, or spreading desertification and much, much more. It is the common language of science without borders that, combined with joint political will borne out of mutual trust, can lead us all to a brighter future.

The world is counting on China and the US to get along and work together in such trust and mutual respect. This forum can be a valuable part of the positive process that is desperately needed to move the dial forward.

The author is a professor in the Faculty of Science at the University of Hong Kong, the director of its Laboratory for Space Research, and vice-chairman of the Orion Astropreneur Space Academy.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.