Yes, special climate envoy John Kerry's really in China and no, don't look for a huge breakthrough between the world's two largest carbon-emitting nations.

Driving the news: The State Department yesterday announced Kerry's visit this week, confirming plans that began emerging Saturday.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said the use of the filibuster-proof budget reconciliation process is an option for trying to pass a mandate that would greatly escalate zero-carbon power generation.

Why it matters: One of President Biden's most aggressive targets is achieving 100% carbon-free electricity generation by 2035, and a "clean electricity standard" could be a key tool to get there.

Asset management giants BlackRock and Temasek have created a new investment entity to stake companies capable of scaling up the deployment of climate-friendly technologies.

Why it matters: Decarbonization Partners is the latest sign of how finance giants — under pressure from activists but also seeing a big market — are steering more capital into clean energy tech and companies.

The problem for backers of U.S. carbon pricing isn't that there's no Beltway interest — some of Washington's most powerful officials and K Street interests like the idea. It's that the timing never seems to work out.

Driving the news: "President Biden believes that at some point in time we need to find out a way to have a price on carbon that’s effective," John Kerry, President Biden's special climate envoy, said at a briefing in India last week.

John Kerry, President Biden's special climate envoy, is expected to travel to China next week for meetings with officials aimed at boosting collaboration, the Washington Post reported Saturday.

Why it matters: China is the world's largest carbon dioxide emitter and the U.S. is second-largest.

After co-piloting President Obama's efforts to fight climate change as vice president, Joe Biden is having his second go, releasing a broad infrastructure proposal his administration hopes will lead to meaningful legislation and investment into stemming U.S. greenhouse emissions.

The big picture: Though there are no concrete programs yet — Congress will have to formulate those — many in venture capital are hopeful such programs will provide new opportunities for startups tackling climate change.

President Biden's first budget request to Congress contains large increases in climate-change-related spending, on the order of $14 billion above the prior year's levels, according to a White House summary.

Why it matters: It provides details on how the White House hopes to translate its vow to act aggressively on global warming, both at home and abroad, into specific funding levels and agency-by-agency plans.

Climate change will lead to a less secure, more crisis-prone world that will strain global institutions, according to a major national security assessment released Thursday.

Driving the news: The “Global Trends Report,” produced every four years by the National Intelligence Council, spotlights climate change among the main structural forces shaping the next two decades.

An analysis finds "increasing evidence" of a fraying connection between economic growth and higher carbon emissions — a needed first step toward steep CO2 cuts.

Driving the news: The Breakthrough Institute's Zeke Hausfather finds that since 2005, emissions have become "decoupled" from GDP growth in 32 nations with a population of at least 1 million people.

The new(ish) group Law Students for Climate Accountability just launched a pressure campaign against the heavyweight law firm Gibson Dunn over its work for oil industry clients.

Why it matters: It's just one of many examples of how climate activism has been tactically evolving in recent months and years. That includes taking aim at a wider suite of corporate targets, like PR agencies and big tech, and intensifying a years-long focus on the finance sector.