US President Joe Biden said he was "
disappointed
" by the lack of commitments from China and Russia in the fight against global warming at the G20 summit which ended Sunday in Rome with measured ambitions.
Read alsoClimate, taxation, vaccines: the timid advances of the G20
"
Russia and China just didn't show up
" when it came to "
making climate commitments
," Joe Biden said during a press conference after the summit, at which the Chinese Presidents Xi Jinping and Russian Presidents Vladimir Putin participated only by videoconference.
"
I find that disappointing myself
", he said, also lambasting Saudi Arabia, while in his eyes the other major economies of the G20 have "
made commitments at all levels
".
Just in time for the crucial UN climate summit (COP26) which opened Sunday in Glasgow, the G20 leaders agreed on a final consensual communiqué whose objectives do not allow to respond to the emergency. climate.
UN chief Antonio Guterres said he was leaving Rome with "
dashed hopes
" while British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, still recognizing progress, said it was "
not enough
".
The Rome declaration goes very slightly beyond the Paris agreement on the goal of limiting global warming to + 1.5 ° C, with a commitment to no longer subsidize coal-fired power plants abroad.
But no clear date for completely phasing out coal or fossil fuels, nor for achieving carbon neutrality, the G20 only retaining "
the middle of the century
" as a horizon.
China and Russia, for example, have given themselves until 2060 to achieve this, while Italy and the United States, among others, argued for 2050 or earlier.
“
To solve the problem of global warming, it is not enough simply to reduce emissions.
We must increase the absorption of greenhouse gases.
Russia, like a number of other countries, has colossal possibilities to do so: it is the absorbing potential of our forests, our tundra, agricultural lands, our seas and swamps,
”Vladimir Putin said by video to its counterparts.
Xi Jinping for his part pleaded for "
the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities
" in global warming.
“
We have made significant progress and we need to do even more,
” admitted Joe Biden.
But "
we will have to continue to look at what China does not do, what Russia does not do and what Saudi Arabia does not do,
" he insisted.
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