US President Joe Biden on Tuesday accused China of turning its back on the “gigantic” problem of climate change at COP26, marked by a major global promise to produce less methane that does not include the biggest emitter worldwide.
On the third day of the UN climate conference, the leaders of a hundred countries, invited to participate in the hope that their presence will boost dialogue, decided to reduce their methane emissions by 30% by the end of this decade.
But that doesn’t include China, Russia and India, three of the five biggest emitters on the planet. And the presidents of the first two countries, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, who had previously avoided the G20 summit in Rome, did not even travel to the Scottish city of Glasgow.
“I think it was a big mistake, frankly, that China didn’t show up,” Biden told a news conference, accusing him of “turning his back” on the “gigantic” problem facing the planet.
Methane Initiative
Methane has a greenhouse effect 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Its sources, such as open-pit coal mines and livestock, have received relatively little attention so far.
“It is one of the gases that we can reduce more quickly”, underlined the president of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, noting that it is responsible for “about 30%” of global warming accumulated since the industrial revolution.
The commitment was signed by 100 countries, led by the United States and those of the European Union. Despite the inclusion of large meat producers such as Brazil and Argentina, they represent just over 40% of global methane emissions.
“Today’s announcement does not achieve the 45% reduction that, according to the UN, is necessary to keep global warming below 1.5ºC”, lamented Murray Worthy, head of the NGO Global Witness.
Argentina joined in the pledge, emphasizing “the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities” between developed countries —responsible for the vast majority of emissions over the last century— and developing countries.
“The contribution of our agrobioindustry to global food security must not be excluded from the climate negotiations so as not to generate new forms of protectionism”, defended Argentine President Alberto Fernández.
He called for the payment of part of its huge external debt to be linked “to the essential investments in green infrastructure that Argentina needs”.
complicated negotiations
Canceled last year because of the pandemic, COP26’s mission is to develop the 2015 Paris Agreement, whose main objective is to limit global warming to +1.5 °C. However, negotiations are announced complicated.
“There is still a long way to go,” warned British Prime Minister and conference host Boris Johnson, declaring himself “prudently optimistic” as leaders begin to leave Glasgow and pass the baton to negotiators.
Seeking to give impetus, the heads of state and government not only promised to emit less gases, but also to absorb more, halting and reversing deforestation and land degradation in 2030.
“Our forests are nature’s way of capturing carbon, taking carbon dioxide out of our atmosphere,” said Biden.
“We have to face this issue (of deforestation) with the same seriousness as the decarbonization of our economies,” he added.
According to the NGO Global Forest Watch, in 2020 alone, the destruction of primary forests increased 12% compared to the previous year —despite the economic slowdown due to the pandemic— and Brazil, cradle of the largest tropical forest on the planet, had 9.5% of increase in greenhouse gas emissions.
The more than one hundred countries that signed the initiative represent 85% of the world’s forests.
Measures include supporting activities in developing countries, such as restoring degraded lands, fighting forest fires and defending the rights of indigenous communities.
And they will be supported by a $12 billion public money fund financed by 12 countries between 2021 and 2025, in addition to $7.2 billion of private investment from more than 30 global financial institutions.
“It’s very important to be carbon neutral, but it’s also very important to be positive with nature,” Colombian President Iván Duque said at the event.
Your country is 52% occupied by tropical forest and 35% by Amazonian lands. He who promised to declare 30% of its territory as a protected area in 2022.
Duque anticipated the pledge eight years ahead of schedule, “because we have to act now,” he said.
Environmental groups have denounced the end of deforestation in 2030 as too late and Greenpeace called it “the green light for another decade of forest destruction.”
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