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COP26: How the world is reacting to the

climate summit
6 November 2021

COP26

AFP

It's the end of week one at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, and
world leaders have already made some big commitments.

M h 40 i h
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More than 40 countries have promised to phase out coal by 2050, and another
100 leaders have pledged to end and reverse deforestation by 2030.

The US and EU, meanwhile, announced that they would partner up to cut
methane emissions.

BBC reporters across the globe - from Shanghai to Sao Paulo - explain how
the summit and the climate pledges are going down in their countries.

COP26: So far, so good-ish

2021: A year of wild weather

Chinese social media has not been flooded with criticism of the West at COP26,
writes Stephen McDonell in Beijing.

The response in China's state-controlled media to the climate summit has

been fairly muted. It's not that ordinary people in China don't know that the
conference is taking place, but the coverage of it has definitely been
downplayed.

Perhaps Xi Jinping choosing not to attend the gathering was a key factor. To
report on it might draw attention to the fact that, unlike other major nations,
nobody represented China at leader level.

Also, China's media is of the Communist Party and for the Communist Party.
Coverage of anything involving Mr Xi, who is the General Secretary of the
Party, is tightly controlled. Media outlets here would not ignore such a
meeting - to which Mr Xi sent a message in lieu of an appearance - unless they
had been ordered to.

Of course the conference has, at various points, been referred to. Nationalist
stirrers - like those featured in the Global Times - have criticised US President
Joe Biden, particularly after he singled out his Chinese counterpart for not
showing up.

But Chinese social media have not been flooded with criticism of the West at
COP26 - it's all been fairly subdued.

Perhaps, for climate scientists wanting to build a sense of urgency and

momentum out of this summit, ignoring what's happening there may be worse
than attacking it.

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It's all about domestic politics, writes Laura Trevelyan in New York

President Biden was determined to use COP26 to showcase American

leadership on climate on the world stage - but, as MSNBC opinion columnist
Hayes Brown noted, first of all, he had to apologise.

Since President Trump pulled the US out of the Paris climate accord, that "put
us sort of behind the eight ball a little bit,' he acknowledged on the summit's
first day.

The US has a see-saw approach to global climate agreements depending on

which party has the presidency. So Americans know that whatever is agreed in

Glasgow could be reversed by a Republican president in 2025.

GETTY IMAGES

A tractor moves through a coal prep plant outside the city of Welch in rural West Virginia

The conservative-leaning Wall St Journal pointed out that President Biden

tried to paint Russia and China as "isolated holdouts" to a global consensus on
reducing emissions but efforts by the US and its allies failed to get Moscow
and Beijing to budge.

At home it's the position of Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, a crucial vote
when it comes to getting a $500bn climate plan through Congress, that's
getting attention.

Mr Manchin is from a coal producing state, West Virginia, and when he said he
had lingering concerns about the spending package, headlines declared:
"Biden's climate pledge risks being undermined by holdout senator."
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There is no sense of a climate emergency in Russia, writes Steve Rosenberg in

Moscow.

Go compare.

A British newspaper headline this week - Queen's plea to save our 'fragile'
planet.

Russia's most popular (pro-Kremlin) daily - Should we really be scared of

global warming?

It concluded we shouldn't, claiming there are "positive consequences of global

warming" (especially for Russia): lower heating bills, more accessible shipping
routes.

There's no sense here of a climate emergency.

Not that the Kremlin denies there's a problem. It points out that the climate in
Russia is warming 2.5 times faster than the world average.

It sent a big delegation to Glasgow. No president, though. Vladimir Putin

appeared by video screen only.

Still, Russia promises to be carbon neutral by 2060. It signed the Glasgow

declaration on forests and land use, pledging an end to deforestation by 2030.

But it wouldn't sign up to cutting methane emissions 30% by 2030. Russia is a

fossil fuel superpower and wants a "smooth" (longer) transition to greener
energy.

"Everybody wants Russia to do more to achieve carbon neutrality as soon as

possible," Vasily Yablokov of Greenpeace Russia tells me.

"I'm happy Russia now accepts climate change is happening, but I see no high
ambition from our country. It looks like the Russian government's from
another planet."

India's 2070 net zero pledge has won Narendra Modi applause in a growing
nation balancing economic and environmental needs, writes Rajini Vaidyanathan
i D lhi
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in Delhi.

Although India has been a big talking point among policy makers in the weeks
leading up to the COP summit, COP hasn't been such a big topic for India's
masses.

But on Monday, when Prime Minister Modi announced that the country would
commit to net zero by 2070, many who weren't paying much attention to
goings on in Glasgow finally took note.

COP hasn't been such a big topic of

conversation with the masses in India

Rajini Vaidyanathan

BBC South Asia correspondent

AFP

Mr Modi's address was broadcast on prime time here, and while some around
the world are frustrated India is signing up to meet these goals two decades
later than the global 2050 target, here the pledges were seen as pragmatic in
a growing country which needs to balance both economic and environmental
needs.

They were also viewed by many as a reminder that the PM won't succumb to
pressure when the West has long reaped the benefits of growth while
polluting. As Mr Modi reminded the summit, "India, which is 17% of the world
population, is responsible for less than 5% of emissions" - a line that many
here applauded.

The First Post news website called the 2070 pledge a "bold decision... without
capitulating to the uncalled for bullying by the West". And climate experts
here say India's four shorter-term goals - to scale up renewables and reduce
carbon emissions by 2030 - are also significant.

Australia's part in the Cop26 summit is overshadowed by politics writes Shaimaa

Khalil in Sydney.

Part of Scott Morrison's job at Cop26 was to explain to the world how he was
going to deliver on net zero by 2050 without phasing out coal. But the prime
minister's trip to Glasgow was overshadowed by a row with French President
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Emmanuel Macron - and not about the climate, about submarines.

On Sunday in Glasgow, Mr Macron accused Mr Morrison of lying to him about

a $37bn deal with France which collapsed under controversial circumstances.
Mr Morrison replied by saying his nation would not accept "sledging" or "slurs".

And so this past week, rather than discussing the pressing climate debate and
what Australia had achieved at COP26, most of the commentary here has
been about Mr Morrison's character and whether the row will affect his
standing domestically.

"Slipperiness is Scott Morrison's defining characteristic," wrote journalist Hugh

Riminton in the Guardian. "And it was never more on show than this week as

he sold "the Australian Way" on climate to a sceptical crowd in Glasgow, while

openly being branded a liar by France."

Australia did make a few climate headlines in Glasgow. Along with China,
Russia, India and Iran, it snubbed the international pledge to reduce methane
emissions by 30% by 2030, and refused to sign up to phasing out coal-fired
power and stop investing in new coal plants at home and abroad.

The verdict from Australia's ABC News? A "terribly messy week" for the prime
minister.

The climate conference in Scotland feels a long way from the reality of most
Brazilians, writes Katy Watson in São Paulo.

Much is made of Brazil's contribution to climate change internationally

because of its immense rainforest. But with all that President Jair Bolsonaro
says and does - and the fact he didn't even attend COP26 - it feels a bit
different over here.

Yes, the Amazon is in the same country, but it's a long way from big cities like
São Paulo and Rio, and probably feels just as distant as a climate conference in
Scotland.

It's not that Brazilians don't care.

"People do want to participate and they have lots to contribute," says Silvia
Cervellini, co-founder of Delibera, a Brazilian organisation helping people get
involved in politics.

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AFP

But since the pandemic, there's been a rise in poverty and the political and
economic crisis is casting a shadow over Brazil. People have more immediate
concerns. "What we need to do is enable people to make the connection with
daily life," Ms Cervellini says.

And that's something that dressmaker Izildete Maria de Sousa Botelho agrees
with. The 67-year-old from Minas Gerais state was selected to be part of the
Global Citizen Assembly for COP.

"If we are cutting down trees, we need to rethink what we eat," she says. "We
outsource the responsibility to authorities and politicians and forget that it's
individual actions, it's the lack of ecological awareness that we need to work
on that is causing all of this."

Many in Iran believe that it is unfair to expect the country to make any climate
commitments while the sanctions remain, writes BBC Persian Service
correspondent Siavash Ardalan.

Iran is among the top 10 emitters of greenhouse gases and suffers extensively
from the effects of global warming. The country has seen one its worst
droughts in decades this year, resulting in severe water shortages and
electricity blackouts.

US sanctions and unsustainable domestic policies have only exacerbated such

problems.

One member of Iran's delegation to COP26 has said that if the sanctions were
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lifted, "there would be no obstacle for us to reduce our emissions".

However, conservatives affiliated to President Ebrahim Raisi's government

have put out statements that range from climate change denial to assertions
COP26 is seeking to deprive Iran of its oil and gas.

Although the summit has been largely ignored by Iranian media, such critical
views have made their way to some pro-government conservative outlets.

A few reform-minded newspapers have meanwhile echoed the dire warnings

from UN officials and climate scientists while avoiding any critique of the
government's low-key approach to COP26.

Public opinion is divided. Many believe that it is unfair to expect any

commitments from Iran while the sanctions remain in place. Others argue that
climate change has only served to downplay government incompetence.

COP26 is not front page news in Nigeria, writes Nduka Orjinmo in Abuja.

Nigeria, Africa's largest oil exporter, has promised zero emissions by 2060.

The big media houses have sent reporters to Glasgow but it is not front page
news in Nigeria.

On Wednesday, President Muhammadu Buhari said no-one in Nigeria needed

"persuading of the need for urgent action on the environment," pointing to
desertification, floods and erosion in the country as "enough evidence".

Activists have long sounded the alarm

against oil drilling, but there is little sign
of action

Nduka Orjinmo

BBC Nigeria reporter

AFP

But he wants access to climate finance - some of the $100bn annually

available to developing economies - and foreign investment in Nigeria's gas
sector to help the country wean itself off its major revenue earner, oil.

The president struck the right notes for those in Glasgow but back home
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people, in homes powered by gasoline generators imported from China, live in

a different reality.

No-one here has experienced a stable power supply in their lifetime and if it
takes burning coal to achieve that, few will reject it for the sake of the climate.

Climate activists, especially in the oil-producing Niger Delta region, have long
sounded the alarm about the impact of oil drilling and gas flaring but there is
little sign of any action from the government and the international oil firms.

Even as Saudi Arabia seeks to achieve net zero by 2060, the country is boosting
its oil production, writes Middle East Business Correspondent Sameer Hashmi.

For a long time, the world's largest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, had resisted
calls from Western countries to set a definite target to reduce carbon
emissions.

Then last month, the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, announced that
the country had set a goal of reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2060.

But, even as the Saudis seek to achieve that objective, they are boosting their
oil production capacity to cater for global demand.

The country's top officials have repeatedly said tackling climate change is
necessary, but that it cannot be done by "demonising" hydrocarbons. The
energy minister believes the world needs both fossil fuels as well as
renewables.

Most officials I spoke to there supported the crown prince's goal and his
efforts to promote economic diversification by investing in new industries. The
response by environmental activists though was more muted.

Why the COP26 climate summit is important

Simple guide to climate change

Four ways to reduce your emissions

Life where it's too hot to work, too hot to sleep

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