CHINA CRISIS ROCKS COP26

Beijing bursts Boris optimism with warning over 1.5C target Biden blast at President Xi and Putin talks snub

THE Cop26 climate summit was dealt a major blow last night as Beijing pushed back against global warming targets – and Joe Biden blasted the leaders of both China and Russia for failing to attend.

Puncturing what had appeared to be growing momentum, China’s top negotiator suggested limiting warming to 2C could still be the goal – not the more ambitious 1.5C.

Meanwhile President Biden said his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping had made a ‘big mistake’ by not attending the summit – and criticised absent Russian leader Vladimir Putin for not doing more to tackle climate change when ‘his tundra’s burning, literally’.

The developments threatened to overshadow Boris Johnson’s insistence that he was ‘caulead

‘If we focus on 1.5 we destroy consensus’

tiously optimistic’ that the Glasgow talks would help to tackle climate change.

Also yesterday Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates warned that the world would miss the target of limiting temperature increases to 1.5C.

His comment came as China’s top negotiator Xie Zhenhua said: ‘If we only focus on 1.5, we are destroying consensus and many countries would demand a reopening of the negotiations’.

Under the Paris Agreement of 2015, countries agreed to limit temperature rises to ‘well below’ 2C, and ‘pursue efforts’ to restrict them to 1.5C compared to pre-industrial times.

Many had been hoping the conference would to commitments that could limit the rise to 1.5C.

However, the absence of both the Russian and Chinese Presidents has fuelled fears it will not secure the commitments necessary to avert catastrophic warming.

Addressing the summit last night, President Biden said of

China’s absence: ‘It’s been a big mistake, quite frankly, China not showing up.’

He added: ‘It’s a gigantic issue and they’ve walked away.

‘How do you do that and claim to be able to have any leadership mantle? The same with Putin and Russia. His tundra’s burning, literally.’

He added: ‘We’ve thrown into jeopardy the prospect that we’re going to be able to keep the temperature rising above 1.5C.’

At a press conference, Mr Johnson referred to a previous football analogy, where he warned the world was 5-1 down against global warming, by saying humanity had ‘pulled back a goal, or even two’.

Asked about India’s 2070 target for net zero, Mr Johnson hailed the country’s commitment to using more green energy in power stations. But one UK source said India’s target for net zero was disappointing and Mr Modi had made ‘an interesting political choice to kick it further down the road’.

Mr Johnson was also asked about President Xi of China’s absence.

He said: ‘The Chinese team is

very high level. When I talked to him, he didn’t want to come because of the pandemic.

‘The same is the case for Vladimir Putin. But that doesn’t mean the Chinese are not engaging.’

The UK official also criticised

China, saying: ‘We are not seeing the sort of leadership people want to see’ from the world’s biggest emitter.

Another senior British source described India’s 2070 pledge as ‘worthless’, adding: ‘If you are saying 2070 at this stage you might as well say never.’ It came as Mr Gates said ‘I doubt we’ll be able to achieve’ the 1.5C goal.

In an interview with former foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt for the Policy Exchange think tank, Mr Gates said the cost of subsidising countries, including China and India, to curb emissions would be too great, so richer nations should focus on reducing the cost of green technology.

He said 65 per cent of the world’s population lived in middle-income countries.

‘They are key to climate. Most of the emissions in the world come from middle-income countries,’ he said.

‘We cannot afford to subsidise the green premiums to the middle-income countries. That would be trillions of dollars.’

‘2070? You might as well say never’