United Nations/Washington DC, US
Reuters
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged leaders of the world’s major economies including the United States to deliver on their commitments toward a $US100 billion per year climate fund with less than six weeks to go before a UN climate summit.
Johnson and UN Secretary-General António Guterres hosted a roundtable of world leaders on Monday to address major gaps on emissions targets and climate finance.
“Too many major economies – some represented here today, some absent – are lagging too far behind,” Johnson said. “I’ll stress that again – for this to be a success we need developed countries to find that $US100 billion.”
Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson greets UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres before a bilateral meeting, during G7 summit in Carbis Bay, Cornwall, Britain, on 12th June. PICTURE: Adrian Dennis/Pool via Reuters.
The closed-door meeting during the annual high-level week of the UN General Assembly includes leaders and representatives from a few dozen countries representing industrialised nations, emerging economies and vulnerable developing countries.
Those involved in the roundtable included the United States, China, India, EU nations as well as Costa Rica, the Maldives and a mix of developing and middle income countries and industrialised nations.
COVID-19 VACCINE SCEPTIC BOLSONARO GETS A PASS AT UN BUT NOT NEW YPRK RESTAURANTS
Unvaccinated heads of state attending the United Nation General Assembly this week may have to settle for a piece of pizza on a sidewalk instead of fine dining at New York’s restaurants.
That is how Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro dined on his first night in New York, where no one is allowed into the city’s restaurants without proof of vaccination against COVID-19.
The far-right populist is a vaccine sceptic who has bragged about not being vaccinated, saying before he left for New York that his immune system is strong enough to fend off the coronavirus.
Two Cabinet ministers on his delegation posted a photo of Bolsonaro and aides munching on slices of pizza on a New York sidewalk on Sunday night.
Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro (3rd from left) eats pizza with Caixa Economica Federal Bank President Pedro Guimaraes, General Luiz Eduardo Ramos, Tourism Minister Gilson Machado Neto, Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga and other politicians on a street ahead of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City, US, on 19th September. PICTURE: Instagram/@gilsonmachadoneto via Reuters
Bolsonaro’s supporters praised the casual “simplicity” of their leader happy to eat pizza on the street near the Manhattan hotel where he is staying.
Asked by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson at a meeting on Monday whether he had been vaccinated, Bolsonaro replied: “No. Not yet.”
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio appealed to world leaders, “including most notably Bolsonaro from Brazil”, to get vaccinated before attending the UN gathering in the city.
“If you don’t want to be vaccinated, don’t bother coming,” de Blasio said at a news conference.
Last week, General Assembly President Abdulla Shahid notified the 193-member states that the UN’s COVID-19 vaccination honor system will remain in place for presidents, prime ministers and diplomats. They are not required to show proof of immunisation.
Some leaders are staying away and sending a video statement instead because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Brazil’s mission to the United Nations declined to comment on reports a Brazilian diplomat had tested positive in New York.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said: “We are aware of the reports and are in contact with the Brazilian mission.”
Bolsonaro will be the first head of state to address the annual UN General Assembly on Tuesday morning.
– LISANDRA PARAGUASSU, Reuters
Johnson told reporters that he is hopeful the United States can deliver on a promise to step up its share of money toward the $US100 billion annual goal but “we’ve been here before” and “we’re not counting our chickens”.
US Climate Envoy John Kerry, who represented the United States at Monday’s meeting, said Washington would deliver more climate aid ahead of the 31st October to 12th November COP26 Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland.
“The United States is crucially important,” Johnson said. “It will send a massively powerful signal to the world.”
Guterres told reporters after the roundtable that he heard “encouraging declarations” about raising financial support to help developing countries deal with climate change.
One UN official described the discussions as “brutally honest” about expectations for the summit and that there “was a collective sense of ‘we’re in trouble'”.
Off track
The roundtable discussion aimed to ensure a successful outcome at the conference even as reports show major economies being far off track on their emission reduction goals and climate finance commitments.
A UN analysis of country pledges under the Paris agreement on climate released on Friday showed global emissions would be 16 per cent higher in 2030 than they were in 2010 – far off the 45 per cent reduction by 2030 that scientists say is needed to stave off disastrous climate change.
Another report released on Friday by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said that rich countries likely missed a goal to contribute $US100 billion last year to helping developing nations deal with climate change after increasing funding by less than two per cent in 2019.
Guterres also pressed donor countries and multilateral development banks to show progress toward meeting his goal to increase the share of finance dedicated to helping countries adapt to climate change to 50 per cent from the current level of 21 per cent, said Selwin Hart, special adviser to Guterres on climate action.
A report released on Monday by Oxfam estimated that wealthy governments will continue to miss the $US100 billion goal and reach only $US93 billion to $US95 billion per year by 2025 – five years after the goal should have been met, depriving climate-vulnerable countries of between $US68 billion and $US75 billion in total over the six-year target period.
Simon Stiell, Grenada’s minister for climate resilience, said that in the weeks between now and the summit, the pressure is on the G20 group of the world’s biggest economies to step up their domestic emission reduction targets and commitments to mobilize international climate aid.
“If you look a the role that the G20 plays in the global discussion, they generate 80% of global emissions and constitute 85 per cent of global GDP. They have the wealth and technology to act,” he said.
Action by the G20 countries can “move the needle” in terms of meeting the goals of the Paris climate agreement, Stiell said.
Guterres told Reuters in an interview last week that the gulf between developing and developed countries puts the summit at risk of failure.
“There is still a level of mistrust, between north and south, developed and developing countries, that needs to be overcome,” Guterres said.
– Additional reporting by ELIZABETH PIPER in London, UK
