Glasgow COP26: US ready to lead climate fight, says President Joe Biden

President Joe Biden said the US is ready to be a leader again in the fight against climate change, addressing a United Nations conference in Glasgow, Scotland, despite discord at home over his ambition to steer billions of taxpayer dollars toward renewable energy.

The Biden administration will “demonstrate to the world the United States is not only back at the table, hopefully leading by the power of our example,” the president said Monday in a speech to the summit. “I know it hasn’t been the case and that’s why my administration is working overtime to show that our climate commitment is action, not words.” “There’s no more time to hang back or sit on a fence or argue amongst ourselves,” he added. “This is the challenge of our collective lifetimes.”

 Biden wants $3 billion of US climate finance for adaptation

Biden proposed that the US government spend $3 billion a year to help vulnerable nations adapt to rising seas, droughts and other consequences of global warming.

Brazil details fresh plan to reduce carbon emissions

Brazil set out a new plan to cut emissions, even as climate-skeptic President Jair Bolsonaro stayed away from the summit. Environment Minister Joaquim Leite said the country will aim for carbon neutrality by 2050. 

“Today we present a new, more ambitious climate target, going from 43% to 50% by 2030, and carbon neutrality by 2050,” he said in a statement online.

In a short statement sent in remotely, Bolsonaro said only that he had authorized his minister to announce the new target.

Erdogan skips summit in security dispute

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan has cancelled plans to attend the COP26 climate conference after Britain failed to meet Ankara's demands on security arrangements, two Turkish officials told Reuters on Monday. Erdogan returned to Turkey from a G20 summit in Rome instead of travelling to the climate summit in Glasgow, the state-owned Anadolu agency said. The Turkish presidency gave no reason for his unscheduled return.

‘Supply chains need $100 trn to hit target’

Global supply chains will need an estimated $100 trillion in investment to achieve the planet’s goal of net-zero carbon emissions over the next three decades, according to new research by HSBC Holdings and BCG that pins as much as half of that price tag on small- to medium-size businesses.