COP26: China and Russia refute criticism of Biden on his climate commitment

China and Russia, the world’s first and fifth largest greenhouse gas emitters, said on Wednesday that they were taking the climate emergency seriously, responding to criticism from the American Joe Biden on the COP26, which enters fully into their complex negotiations.

“We disagre” with the accusations of the United States, affirmed from Moscow the spokesman of the Kremlin, Dmitri Peskov.

SIGHT: Biden accuses China of turning its back on climate fight at COP26

And he assured that Russia is taking actions against climate change “coherent, thoughtful and serious”, despite the fact that its president, Vladimir Putin, did not attend the summit that on Monday and Tuesday brought together some 120 world leaders in the Scottish city of Glasgow, in the beginning of the two week climate conference.

Nor did the Chinese leader travel Xi Jinping, to which Biden He accused of “turning his back” on the “gigantic” problem of global warming that threatens to escape all control if strong measures are not taken immediately.

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“Acts speak louder than words”, A spokesman for Chinese diplomacy, Wang Wenbin, responded from Beijing, lashing out at the “empty words” of the US president.

Canceled last year due to the covid-19 pandemic, the COP26 Glasgow has the difficult mission of implementing the commitments adopted in the Paris Agreement of 2015, which set as a major international objective to limit global warming to + 1.5ºC compared to the pre-industrial era.

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However, scientists warn that with the current measures the Earth is heading more towards an increase of + 2.7ºC that would entail chaotic consequences between droughts, floods, rise in sea level and the emergence of millions of climate refugees.

Mobilize funding

In this context, the negotiations, stuck for years in complex technical issues such as the operation of the market mechanism to buy and sell emission rights, are announced to be complicated.

On the agenda, in addition to the accelerated decarbonization of the economy, is the issue of financial aid, worth 100 billion dollars a year, promised for 2020 but still unfulfilled, from rich countries to disadvantaged nations and most vulnerable to climate change.

Wednesday’s day is precisely dedicated to finances and the British minister of the sector, Rishi Sunak, began it by assuring that the COP26 will finally gather the promised funds.

“We know that they have been devastated by the double tragedy of covid and climate change”, he affirmed before the delegates to this conference organized annually under the aegis of the United Nations.

“That is why we are going to meet the goal of providing $ 100 billion in climate finance to developing nations.”, He assured.

Both Sunak and the president of COP26, the British Alok Sharma, and the US Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, highlighted on Wednesday the important role that private investors must play, as an essential complement to public action.

“Lack of appropriate technology”

“There is still a long way to go,” warned the British Prime Minister and host of the conference, Boris Johnson, declaring himself “cautiously optimistic” when world leaders left COP26 and passed the baton to negotiators.

Seeking to give impetus to the dialogue, the heads of state and government of a hundred countries pledged on Tuesday to reduce by 30% in 2030, compared to 2020 levels, the emissions of methane (CH4), a gas with an effect greenhouse 80 times more powerful than the much better known CO2.

But despite the leadership of the United States and the European Union, the second and third largest emitters in the world respectively, neither India (fourth emitter), nor China and Russia, the latter, a gas extraction giant, joined the agreement. percentage of methane leaks in its gas distribution pipelines to Europe.

Xi Jinping limited himself to sending a written message to the summit, posted on the conference website, without even foreseeing a video-recorded speech as the Russian president did.

“He has very, very serious weather problems and is not willing to do anything about it,” Biden lashed out at a press conference. “The same is the case with Vladimir Putin,” he added.

China is the country that invests the most in clean energy but, like all developing countries, it faces “practical problems” in meeting these “ambitious goals”, defended Wang, pointing to the “lack of appropriate technology.”

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Deshawn