Macron tells US, China to pay for climate change

FRENCH President Emmanuel Macron said the US, China and other non-European rich nations must pay “their share” to help poorer nations deal with climate change.

“We need the United States and China to step up,” Macron said on the sidelines of the COP27 summit in Egypt, AFP reported.

“Europeans are paying. We are the only ones paying. Pressure must be put on rich non-European countries, telling them, ‘you have to pay your fair share’.”

More than 100 world leaders started arriving in Sharm el-Sheikh for the UN’s annual climate change summit, attempting to maintain momentum in the battle to curb planet-warming emissions.

Despite an early breakthrough to put the issue of compensating poorer countries for the impact of climate change on the summit’s agenda, delegates are downbeat on prospects for big new commitments to rein in planet-warming emissions.

Rising energy prices, accelerated by Russia’s war in Ukraine, have led many governments to prioritise security of supply over the transition to cleaner energy.

Global emissions need to start falling rapidly before 2030 if the world has any chance of keeping global warming below 2 degrees. But they will likely hit a record this year. Countries from Pakistan to the US have been hit by unprecedented climate disasters.

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, the new president of COP27, said the breakthrough on loss and damage was reached after 48 hours of intense talks.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Macron and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak are among the biggest names expected at the start of the two-week event.

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US President Joe Biden and Brazil’s President-elect Luis Inacio Lula da Silva are due to appear later on.

The most notable no shows are China’s Xi Jinping and India’s Narendra Modi, leaders of the world’s largest and third-largest emitters. BLOOMBERG