Biden says Russia, China ‘didn’t show up’ on
climate change commitments
At close of G20 summit, US president says Russia,
China and Saudi Arabia have not done enough.
BY DAVID M.
HERSZENHORN
October 31,
2021 11:00 pm
https://www.politico.eu/article/biden-says-russia-china-didnt-show-up-on-climate-change-commitments/
ROME — U.S.
President Joe Biden on Sunday blamed Russia and China for any disappointment
over the level of commitment by G20 leaders to fight climate change.
“With
regard to the disappointment, the disappointment relates to the fact that … not
only Russia but China basically didn’t show up in terms of any commitments to
deal with climate change,” Biden said at his news conference at the end of the
two-day leaders’ summit in Rome.
“And
there’s a reason why people should be disappointed in that,” Biden added. “I
found it disappointing myself.”
The leaders
of the G20 nations, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese
President Xi Jinping, collectively committed to stronger action than ever
before to limit global warming. But they failed to strike a deal on phasing out
coal because of opposition from a small group of countries, including Russia
and China.
Biden
acknowledged the progress but also name-checked Saudi Arabia among countries
that he argued are still not doing enough.
“We passed
a number of things here to end the subsidization of coal,” Biden said. “We made
commitments here from across the board, all of us, in terms of what we are
going to bring to the G26.” He was referring, in fact, to the COP26 climate
conference in Scotland, which began on Sunday and where many leaders headed
directly from Rome.
“More has
to be done,” Biden said, continuing his riff on climate change. “But it’s going
to require us to continue to focus on what China’s not doing, what Russia’s not
doing and what Saudi Arabia is not doing.”
The
leaders' final G20 communiqué left plenty of room for interpretation over who
needs to carry the burden. After the meeting finished, Chinese state media
reported Xi had told his fellow leaders that richer countries bore the responsibility
for cutting emissions faster.
Beijing
frustrated Western governments last week by releasing a new set of climate
goals that didn’t substantially shift the country’s position from previously
announced targets.
Russian
President Putin, participating in the G20 summit by videoconference, insisted
that his country was living up to all of its commitments.
"Russia,
like other countries, is experiencing — actually experiencing — the negative
bearing of global warming, and here is why: We are faced with desertification
and soil erosion, and we are especially worried about the thawing of the
permafrost, which accounts for a significant part of Russia’s territory,” Putin
said, according to a Kremlin transcript of his speech.
“Naturally,
our country is vigorously participating and taking the lead in international
climate mitigation and stabilization efforts,” he added. “We faithfully comply
with all our obligations under the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change
and the Paris Agreement.”
Russia has
relatively minimal commitments under international climate agreements because
of how its economy shrunk after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Karl Mathiesen contributed reporting.
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