A top adviser to Joe Biden has refused to say whether the US is comfortable with the way the Australian government handled talks with France ahead of the unveiling of the new Aukus submarines deal. Jake Sullivan, the US president’s national security adviser, said there was no point dwelling on the “challenges” surrounding the announcement of the new security partnership between the US, the UK and Australia, saying that “will be interesting for the historians to do at some point”. Sullivan also said on Thursday the Biden administration would engage in “stiff competition” with China but there was no reason that had to “turn into conflict or confrontation”. Addressing a webinar hosted by the Sydney-based Lowy Institute, Sullivan said the Biden administration had agreed to share sensitive nuclear submarine technology with Australia to send a signal to allies that “if you bet with us, we will bet with you”. In an attempt to mend ties, Biden told the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in Rome late last month that Aukus was handled clumsily and that he thought France had been informed earlier about the cancellation of the Australian submarine contract. It was unclear whether Biden was talking about the Australian government or his own staff or both. Sullivan was asked by the Lowy Institute executive director Michael Fullilove whether the Biden administration was comfortable with the way that Canberra had handled the Aukus announcement. He replied that he would “dodge” the question because “there’s no profit in revisiting how we got to where we are”.
India’s economy will become carbon neutral by the year 2070, the country’s prime minster has announced at the COP26 climate crisis summit in Glasgow. The target date is two decades beyond what scientists say is needed to avert catastrophic climate impacts. India is the last of the world’s major carbon polluters to announce a net-zero target, with China saying it would reach that goal in 2060, and the United States and the European Union aiming for 2050.
China's carbon emissions are vast and growing, dwarfing those of other countries. Experts agree that without big reductions in China's emissions, the world cannot win the fight against climate change. In 2020, China's President Xi Jinping said his country would aim for its emissions to reach their highest point before 2030 and for carbon neutrality before 2060. His statement has now been confirmed as China's official position ahead of the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow. But China has not said exactly how these goals will be achieved.
China's carbon emissions are vast and growing, dwarfing those of other countries. Experts agree that without big reductions in China's emissions, the world cannot win the fight against climate change. In 2020, China's President Xi Jinping said his country would aim for its emissions to reach their highest point before 2030 and for carbon neutrality before 2060. His statement has now been confirmed as China's official position ahead of the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow. But China has not said exactly how these goals will be achieved.
A crucial U.N. conference heard calls on its first day for the world's major economies to keep their promises of financial help to address the climate crisis, while big polluters India and Brazil made new commitments to cut emissions. World leaders, environmental experts and activists all pleaded for decisive action to halt the global warming which threatens the future of the planet at the start of the two-week COP26 summit in the Scottish city of Glasgow on Monday. The task facing negotiators was made even more daunting by the failure of the Group of 20 major industrial nations to agree ambitious new commitments at the weekend.