America's drive for more research and development on climate change does not run counter to China's interests, US President's Special Envoy for Climate John Kerry told CNBC.

“No one nation can solve this problem by itself — impossible. Each of us need everybody else at the table to make this happen,” Kerry told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble in Abu Dhabi after wrapping up the UAE’s Regional Climate Dialogue, during which he toured renewable energy facilities in the oil-rich Gulf state. “This is about China, the United States, India, Russia, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Australia, a bunch of countries that are emitting a pretty sizable amount, the United States and China the most.”

Kerry added that the United States and China account for nearly 45% of all global emissions. Perhaps Europe has made more progress than China or the United States in trying to slow climate change. 

“So three entities need to work together with a lot of other countries to be serious about reducing emissions, and to address this moment of history,” Kerry said.

“We will continue to need gas, certainly for a period of time, oil for a period in a transition,” Kerry added. “We have to transition [away from fossil fuels] here. Nobody can pretend that you can just wave a magic wand and boom, overnight, you’re going to suddenly have renewables everywhere.”

President Joe Biden has made fighting climate change a top priority for his administration. Its clean energy measures, which include government funding for electric vehicles (EVs), millions of additional parking lots to charge electric vehicles, and modernization of buildings and homes, are aimed at achieving a long-term goal of zero emissions by 2050.