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By Bloomberg

The U.S. and China may help avoid dangerous climate change simply by learning from each other.

China and the U.S. may reduce greenhouse-gas emissions 20 percent and 16 percent, respectively, in 2030 from current policy projections by adopting each other's best practices, according to a report today from the Climate Action Tracker, a project that analyzes global efforts to fight global warming.

"China has more efficient cement plants than the U.S., whereas the U.S. has more efficient iron and steel plants," Climate Action Tracker said in an e-mailed statement. "Both can improve significantly to reach currently best available technology."

China is the world's top greenhouse-gas emitter, followed by the U.S., according to World Bank data. Together the two countries account for more than a third of total emissions.

Both nations may close the emissions gap by 23 percent if they adopted best practices in domestic climate protection, for example by reducing coal use or cutting electricity consumption, the project said.

That would put them "on the right pathway to keep warming below" 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit), an internationally agreed target to avoid the most dangerous effects of climate change, said Bill Hare of Climate Analytics, one of the project's three research groups.