In 2009, rich countries promised to collect $100 billion a year in climate finance for vulnerable nations by 2020. They aren’t on track to deliver on their pledge, said Nisha Krishnan, senior climate finance associate at the World Resources Institute. “We’re at a critical point where there is an urgent need for new leadership in the climate finance debate,” she said. “Financing needs are just increasing.”
Kerry has said he wants to work with the world’s 20 worst polluters to cut emissions more rapidly. A question mark hangs over China, the biggest emitter. President Xi Jinping has said he wants to eliminate emissions by 2060, but hasn’t announced a stronger 2030 goal, which all countries are required to do under the Paris accord.
On Thursday, China said that Xi will attend a virtual leaders’ climate summit with the leaders of France and Germany on Friday. That may be seen as a snub to Kerry while he is in China, especially since Xi hasn’t officially confirmed if he’ll attend Biden’s summit. It may also help to thaw relations between Beijing and Brussels that have become strained over accusations of human-rights abuses in China’s far western Xinjiang region. China and the European Union engaged in tit-for-tat sanctions last month over the claims.
“I don’t think China’s goals will be adjusted because of the requirements from the U.S.,” said Zou Ji, president of Energy Foundation China who was a key member of the Chinese climate negotiation team in Paris. “The blame game is the wrong direction.” Zou said it was possible that China and the U.S. could reformulate a joint working group on climate change, signaling a new era of collaboration among the two countries that together spew out 40% of greenhouse gases.
While Russia’s President Vladimir Putin plans to attend, his economy ministry—which is responsible for emissions legislation—has given no indication it will strengthen its conservative climate targets in the near future.
Meanwhile tensions between the two nations continue to rise after Biden labelled Putin a killer and confronted him over issues including a buildup of forces near Ukraine’s borders on a phone call. The Biden administration is poised to impose a raft of new sanctions on Russia, people familiar with the matter said, though Biden has also offered the possibility of a summit meeting with Putin in the coming months.
Not even all U.S. allies are on board with Biden’s green push. Australia hasn’t publicly confirmed its attendance and the country has yet to commit to a specific net-zero goal. Prime Minster Scott Morrison said in February that the nation should aim to do so and “preferably by 2050.”
Another key target for Kerry is Saudi Arabia, which depends largely on oil export revenue and has promised to announce more details of its green plan later this year. The nation hasn’t said if it will attend the summit.
“The invitation is received and certainly we will work with our friends, but we have also our own initiatives and we would like to keep a good deal of what we want to do for when people visit us hopefully soon to celebrate with us,” Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman told reporters in Riyadh.
The summit’s objective is to encourage major economies to boost their climate ambition so that the 1.5°C goal is within reach, a State Department spokesperson said in a statement, adding that the U.S. has invited countries to use the meeting as an “opportunity to announce their plans.” While it may not deliver immediate wins on that front, the gathering could help to galvanize momentum ahead of the COP26 global negotiations due to be held in November in Glasgow, Scotland.
“I am expecting stronger political will toward the achievement of our objective,” said Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, Global Leader of Climate & Energy at WWF and former President of COP20. “It is not the role of the U.S. to push other countries but to show what is happening and to lead by example to bring and convene more countries to do the same.”
—With assistance from Karoline Kan, Aaron Clark, Stephen Stapczynski, Jennifer A Dlouhy, Will Wade, Archana Chaudhary, Simone Preissler Iglesias, Vivian Nereim, Matthew Martin, Kait Bolongaro, Dina Khrennikova, Jennifer Epstein, Heesu Lee, Jing Li, Philip Glamann and Lucille Liu.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.