COP26: What shape is 'Team World' in after day two of the climate summit in Glasgow?
The Prime Minister was diplomatic and the US president lashed out as they both addressed the elephant in the room: China.
Wednesday 3 November 2021 10:19, UK
The world leaders' two-day COP26 summit is done.
It's wheels up for 120 heads of states who convened at Glasgow to kick off this critical climate change summit to try to begin to put in place mechanisms to finally honour pledges made, to turn 'blah blah blah' into an actual blueprint to deliver pledges to limit global warming to 1.5C by the middle of this century.
But as President Biden of the US, Prime Minister Modi of India, Prime Minister Kishida of Japan and dozens more disperse once more, and the negotiators get to work drawing up more detailed plans, what shape is 'Team World' in its battle against global warming?
There have been positive movements. The prime minister, who came into this summit hoping to fill four buckets - cash, coal, cars and trees - with pledges, hailed a commitment signed by over 100 countries to end deforestation by 2030 as the end of the "great chainsaw massacre" of the world's forests.
One bucket ticked off.
At his closing press conference, Mr Johnson also praised Japan's move to commit $10bn on the $100bn-a-year climate financing package to help developing countries go green.
He thinks COP26 will get cash, although the fund won't be ready until 2023 (three years later than promised) and many countries say more is needed: Prime Minister Modi of India made the point in his address that $1tn in climate finance needs to be unleashed.
On cars, the PM told journalists as he departed to watch this space.
Coal is more difficult - the PM was clearly frustrated in Rome that the G20 had not written into its final communique a commitment to phasing out domestic coal after resistance from a few countries (including China).
But enough of them did agree on the principle to perhaps give the UN something to announce over the coming days.
"I'm cautiously optimistic," the prime minister told us at his final press conference. "On the way to the G20, I said to some of you that if this is a football match, then the current score is 5-1 down in the match between humanity and climate change.
"I think you can say today after talks with 120 leaders that we've pulled back a goal or even two. I think we're going to be able to take this thing to extra time. There's no doubt some progress has been made."
But there is an elephant in the room at this conference: China.
President Xi has not turned up and the world's biggest emitter (by far) has only agreed to peak its fossil fuel emissions in 2030 - the PM has said clearly he'd like China to accelerate that to 2025.
And that's what I asked the prime minister as he left Glasgow for London. Can 'team world' really equalize in extra time when China is not on the pitch?
A politician not always known for his tact, the prime minister was far more diplomatic in his handling of the China question than the US President, as he told me that President's Xi absence "doesn't mean the Chinese are not engaging" and stressed that his key focus was whether they could peak its emissions before 2030.
But when I asked him whether China would have to play ball in the coming two weeks to come out of COP26 with the prospect of keeping 1.5 degrees alive, he did acknowledge that "we need China to make commitments".
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President Biden did not pull his punches one bit as he lashed out at China for not attending COP26.
"America showed up and decided to lead," he told reporters before departing on Airforce One. "I think it has been a mistake, quite frankly, with respect to China, not showing up."
Different approaches from two world leaders, but what they have in common is the need for President Xi to engage.
From the flurry of announcements in the past two days, there are plenty of nuts and bolts to begin building a frame to really tackle climate change.
But China needs to play ball in the coming days, and as the leaders leave the negotiators' hard bargaining begins.
All is still to play for.