Biden's speech at COP26 signals US' readiness to lead by example

Glasgow

US PRESIDENT Joe Biden, in his address to the United Nations COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, said on Monday (Nov 1) that the US was not only back at the table, but would lead by example in its policies to limit the fallout from climate change.

He announced that the US would, on his watch, cut greenhouse gas emissions by more than a gigatonne, and that the US climate commitment is "one of action, not just words".

He also announced that the US' long-term strategy on net zero was to achieve it by no later than 2050, and expressed the will to do more to help developing countries accelerate their transition to clean energy.

The current high energy prices reinforce the need to diversify the planet's sources of energy, he said.

The US leader, who made climate action a central theme of his presidency, described it as a "moral and economic imperative" to tackle climate change, and that the Glasgow meeting must "kick off a decade of ambition".

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Earlier on Monday, United Nations chief Antonio Guterres urged world leaders to "save humanity" as more than 120 heads of state and government started gathering here for the event amid code-red warnings from scientists ringing in their ears.

Besides Biden, India Prime Minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are all to deliver speeches expected to reiterate the need for urgency.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the host of the event, said in a speech opening the summit: "It's one minute to midnight, and we need to act now."

COP26 is being billed as vital for the continued viability of the Paris Agreement, which countries signed in 2015 by promising to limit global temperature rises to "well below" 2 deg C, and to work for a safer 1.5 C cap.

With a little over 1 deg C of warming since the Industrial Revolution, Earth is being battered by extreme heatwaves, flooding and tropical storms supercharged by rising seas.

Pressure is on governments to redouble their emissions-cutting commitments to bring them in line with the Paris goals, and to stump up long-promised cash to help developing nations green their grids and protect themselves against future disasters.

"It's time to say: 'Enough'," Guterres said. "Enough of brutalising biodiversity, of killing ourselves with carbon, of treating nature like a toilet, of burning and drilling and mining our way deeper. We are digging our own graves."

Delegates queued to get into the summit, while on nearby streets, protesters began demonstrations to keep up the pressure on delegates.

Johnson spoke of the "uncontainable" public anger if the conference falls flat. Echoing 18-year-old climate campaigner Greta Thunberg - who is in Glasgow with thousands of other protesters - he urged the summit against indulging in "blah blah blah".

If the leaders "fluff our lines or miss our cue", generations as-yet unborn "will not forgive us", he said.

The Group of 20 (G-20) including China, India and Western nations committed on Sunday to the Paris goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 deg C. They also agreed to end funding for new coal plants abroad without carbon capturing technology by the end of 2021.

The precise pathway to 1.5 deg C was left largely undefined and campaigners expressed disappointment with the group, which collectively emits nearly 80 per cent of global carbon emissions. Preparations for the summit had been dampened by some high-profile no shows. Chinese President Xi Jinping - who has not left his country during the pandemic - and Russia's Vladimir Putin will not be in Glasgow.

Observers say the gathering, which runs until Nov 12, will be tough going. Most nations submitted their renewed emissions-cutting plans in advance of COP26. But these current commitments - even if followed - would still lead to a "catastrophic" warming of 2.7 deg C, said the UN.

China, the world's biggest carbon polluter, has just submitted to the UN its revised climate plan, which repeats a long-standing goal of peaking emissions by 2030. REUTERS, AFP