Biden and Trudeau hold first bilateral meeting virtually with little fanfare
United States president Joe Biden has had his first bilateral meeting with Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau virtually, with the coronavirus pandemic stripping the occasion of its customary Oval Office fanfare.
The two leaders - Mr Biden in the Roosevelt Room at the White House and Mr Trudeau in the prime minister's office in Ottawa - delivered friendly opening remarks in front of the media.
"The United States has no closer friend, no closer friend, than Canada," Mr Biden said.
Mr Trudeau, in turn, commended Mr Biden for quickly rejoining the Paris climate accord, a worldwide pact to curb climate emissions that Donald Trump walked away from early in his term.
The prime minister, who had a frosty relationship with Mr Trump at times, said: "US leadership has been sorely missed over the past years.
"And I have to say as we were preparing the joint rollout of the communique on this, it's nice when the Americans are not pulling out all the references to climate change and instead adding them in."
In remarks at the end of the talks, Mr Biden for the first time publicly spoke out against the detention of two Canadian citizens imprisoned in China in apparent retaliation for Canada's arrest of a top Huawei executive.
"Human beings are not bartering chips," Mr Biden said of the two Canadians. "We are going to work together until their safe return."
Mr Trudeau, for his part, publicly thanked Mr Biden for his support in seeking the men's release.
Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig were detained in China following the arrest of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou in Canada after the US requested her extradition to face charges that the Chinese telecom company executive committed wire and bank fraud and violated US sanctions on Iran. She denies the allegations. China lashed out at Canada last week for joining the US and 56 other countries in endorsing a declaration denouncing state-sponsored arbitrary detention of foreign citizens for political purposes.
In pre-pandemic times, the Biden-trudeau meeting would have been held with far more fanfare but with both leaders stressing caution to their citizens, Mr Biden and Mr Trudeau set aside the typical protocol in favour of talks by video conference.
US presidents traditionally invite the Canadian prime minister for their first meeting with a world leader. The two leaders agreed to a "road map" outlining how the neighbouring countries will work together to fight Covid-19, curb climate emissions and pursue other shared priorities.
Mr Trudeau again raised with Mr Biden the idea of allowing Canada, which is struggling to vaccinate its population, to buy vaccines produced in the US, according to aseniorcanadiangovernment official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail the private talks.
Mr Trudeau brought up the issue when the two leaders spoke by phone last month, Mr Biden's first call to a foreign leader as president.
But Mr Biden's "first priority" remains "ensuring every American is vaccinated."
Climate change is the issue everyone is talking about – or at least they should be. Scientists have warned that failure to curb rising global temperatures will lead to catastrophic events that will have irreversible impacts on all life on Earth. But many people are unsure what they can and should be doing to help.
Now two new courses have been developed by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society (RSGS) to guide individuals and organisations on the actions necessary to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve important climate targets.
They are the brainchild of Mike Robinson, chief executive of the RSGS, and an advisor on delivering and embedding climate solutions. He says: “It’s what every manager should know about climate change.”
The courses have been developed in conjunction with the universities of Edinburgh and Stirling and the Institute of Directors Scotland, with endorsement from former Bank of England governor Mark Carney.
Carney, who is a special envoy for climate and finance for the United Nations, says: “Every business is going to have to ask themselves, and should be asking themselves, how will climate change affect my business today, tomorrow, in the decades ahead and what am I doing about it?”
The first course, Climate Solutions Professional, is aimed at time-poor managers, offering a simple, time
efficient route to understanding climate change. After completing four online modules, participants will attend a workshop delivered by the project partners.
Meanwhile, Climate Solutions Accelerator is a compact 90-minute version, where managers can learn practical solutions they can implement to help tackle climate change.
Sarah Graham, who works for The Famous Grouse whisky brand, completed the pilot programme.
She says: “It was a fantastic programme that really served to increase my confidence in terms of the latest information around climate change.
“It also covered a broad range of interesting topics, from government policy to scientific studies and even behavioural psychology.
“But I guess the most important aspectforme wasthatitclearly spelt out many of the positive climate solutions available for businesses to take advantage of today and why they make business sense.”
Hazel Robertson, business consultant and RSGS explorer in residence, has also taken a Climate Solutions course. She says: “This course is ideal for anyone in the business community who is looking to understand more about climate science, climate policy and, most importantly, climate solutions but who don’t have a lot of spare time.”
For more information, visit the RSGS website at www.rsgs.org.