The COP26 climate summit in the eyes of the world: the responses of nine influential countries from China, the United States to India and Brazil-BBC News

From Beijing to New York, from Sao Paulo to Delhi, BBC reporters reported and analyzed the responses of the leaders and citizens of nine countries to the Glasgow Summit and climate commitments.

A report by BBC Beijing correspondent Stephen McDonell from Beijing: Chinese social media on the topic of COP26，It is not flooded with criticism of the West.

The Chinese official media’s response to the climate summit has been fairly moderate. This is not to say that ordinary people in China do not know that the meeting is taking place, but that the coverage of the meeting must have been cooled.

Perhaps Xi Jinping’s choice of not attending this conference was a key factor. Excessive reporting may draw people’s attention to the fact that, unlike other major powers, there is no national leader to represent China at this conference.

In addition, the Chinese media is owned by the Communist Party and also serves the Communist Party. Any reports involving Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, are strictly controlled. Unless they are ordered, the Chinese media will not ignore such meetings. Xi Jinping sent a message to this conference without appearing in person.

Of course, this meeting has been mentioned from different aspects. Nationalist agitators like those published in the Global Times criticized U.S. President Biden, especially after Biden singled out China’s top leader for not attending in person.

But Chinese social media is not flooded with criticism of the West on the topic of COP26. All this is quite low-key.

Perhaps, for climate scientists who want to use this conference to build a sense of urgency and prevent climate change momentum, ignoring what is happening may be worse than attacking it.

BBC New York correspondent Laura Trevelyan (Laura Trevelyan) sent a report from New York: All this has to do with domestic politics in the United States.

President Biden is determined to use the COP26 conference to showcase America’s leadership on climate issues on the world stage, but, as NBC’s MSNBC opinion columnist Hayes Brown pointed out, first of all, he had to apologize.

Biden had to admit on the first day of the summit: Since President Trump dragged the United States out of the Paris climate agreement, the United States has fallen behind the world on climate issues.

The United States has a swaying attitude towards the global climate agreement, which depends on which American political party holds the presidency. Therefore, Americans know that no matter what agreement is reached in Glasgow, the Republican president is likely to reverse it in 2025.

The conservative Wall Street Journal pointed out that President Biden tried to portray Russia and China as “isolated diehards” in the global consensus on emissions reduction, but the efforts of the United States and its allies failed to make Moscow and Beijing bow their heads.

In the United States, the position of Democratic Senator Joe Manchin is drawing people’s attention. The US Congress will pass a $500 billion climate plan, which is a vital vote.

Manchin is from West Virginia, a coal-producing state. When he said that he had been worried about the above spending plan, the headline of the media declared: “Biden’s climate promises may be undermined by senators who insist on their own opinions.”

BBC Moscow correspondent Steve RosenUncleSteve Rosenberg sent a report from Moscow: Russia has no sense of urgency for climate change issues.

Compare the headlines of the media reports and it’s clear at a glance.

The headline of the British newspaper in the first week of the Climate Conference was: The Queen’s Call to Save Our “Fragile” Planet.

The headline of the most popular (pro-Kremlin) daily newspaper in Russia is: Should we really be afraid of global warming?

The conclusion of the Russian report is that we should not be afraid. It claims that “global warming has positive consequences” (especially for Russia): lower heating costs, easier navigation routes.

There is no sense of urgency in the climate change situation in Russia.

This is not to say that the Kremlin denies that there is a climate change problem. The report also pointed out that Russia’s climate warming rate is 2.5 times faster than the world average.

Russia sent a large delegation to Glasgow. However, it does not include the President. Putin only appeared on the video screen.

Nevertheless, Russia is still committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2060. It signed the Glasgow Declaration on Forests and Land Use, promising to end deforestation by 2030.

But it will not agree to reduce methane emissions by 30% by 2030. Russia is a fossil fuel superpower and wants a “smooth” (longer) transition to green energy.

Vasily Yablokov of Russia’s Greenpeace told me: “Everyone hopes that Russia will take more actions to achieve carbon neutrality as soon as possible.”

He said: “I am very happy to see that Russia now recognizes the fact that climate change is taking place, but I don’t see any ambitions in our country in this regard. It seems that the Russian government comes from another planet.”

The BBC’s Delhi correspondent Rajini Vaidyanathan reports: In a country that balances economic and environmental needs and maintains continuous growth, Modi’s proposed goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2070 in India has won A round of applause.

Although in the weeks leading up to the COP26 summit, India has been one of the centers of discussion among policymakers in various countries, the COP26 conference is not an important topic for the Indian people.

But when Prime Minister Modi announced that the country would commit to a zero-emission goal by 2070, many people who were not too concerned about what was happening in Glasgow finally noticed this.

Modi’s speech was broadcast during prime time in the media.

Although some people around the world are frustrated with India’s commitment to achieve net-zero emissions 20 years later than the 2050 global target, in India, these commitments are seen as a pragmatic move in a growing country that needs to balance economic and environmental needs. .

Many Indians also believe that the Indian prime minister will not succumb to pressure while the West has been producing pollution for a long time and benefiting from growth. As Modi reminded the summit, “India, which accounts for 17% of the world‘s population, only emits less than 5%.” This sentence was praised by many people in India.

The news website of India’s “First Post” stated that the 2070 promise was a “bold decision…not succumbing to unjust bullying by the West.”

Climate experts in India say that India has four short-term goals. Including the expansion of renewable energy and the reduction of carbon emissions by 2030 is also of great significance.

The BBC’s Sydney correspondent Shaimaa Khalil reports from Sydney: Australia is in CONThe image at the 26th summit was partially overshadowed by political shadows.

One of Morrison’s work at COP26 is to explain to the world how he will achieve net zero emissions by 2050 without phasing out coal.

However, the Australian Prime Minister’s trip to Glasgow was overshadowed by the quarrel with French President Macron. The quarrel is not because of the weather, but because of the submarine.

In Glasgow, Macron accused Morrison of lying to Macron about the breakdown of the US$37 billion submarine deal between Australia and France.

Morrison responded that his country would not accept “rumoring” or “defamation.”

Therefore, most of the comments here in Australia are not about the pressing climate debate and Australia’s achievements at COP26, but about Mr. Morrison’s character and whether this debate will affect his status in the country.

Australian journalist Hugh Rimington wrote in the Guardian: “Slippage is Morrison’s defining characteristic. He has never been exposed to the public like this. He peddled to a group of skeptical people in Glasgow. The so-called Australian road to solve the climate problem has also been publicly labelled a liar by France.”

Australia did make some climate headlines in Glasgow. Together with China, Russia, India and Iran, it rejected the international community’s commitment to reduce methane emissions by 30% by 2030. He also refused to sign an agreement to phase out coal-fired power generation and stop investing in new coal-fired power plants at home and abroad.

Does this news headline of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation ABC make a judgment? For the Prime Minister, this was an “extremely messy week.”

BBC Sao Paulo correspondent Katy Watson wrote: The climate conference in Scotland seems to be a far cry from the reality faced by most Brazilians.

Brazil has made its major contribution to climate change internationally due to its huge tropical rain forest. However, what President Bolsonaro said and did, and he didn’t even attend the COP26 meeting, made people feel a little different in Brazil.

Yes, Amazon is in Brazil, but it is far away from major cities such as Sao Paulo and Rio, and it may feel as far away as the climate conference in Scotland.

It’s not that Brazilians don’t care about climate change.

Sylvia Servellini, co-founder of Delibera, a Brazilian organization that helps people participate in politics, said that people in Brazil really want to get involved and they can make a lot of contributions.

However, since the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of poor in Brazil has continued to rise, and the political and economic crisis has cast a shadow over Brazil. People have more direct concerns.

Ms. Servelini said that what needs to be done is to make people link the prevention of climate change to the daily lives of Brazilians.

The tailor Izidet Maria de Susa Botello agrees with this view. The 67-year-old from Minas Gerais was selected as a member of the Global Citizenship Conference of the Conference of the Parties.

Botello said: “If we are to cut down trees, we need to rethink what we eat. We outsource the responsibility to the authorities and politicians, forgetting that this is a personal behavior, and it is the lack of ecological awareness that causes all these problems.”

BBC Persian reporter Siavash Ardalan wrote that many Iranians believe that it is unfair to expect Iran to make any climate promises during the sanctions period.

Iran is one of the 10 largest emitters of greenhouse gases and is deeply affected by global warming. The country has experienced its worst drought in decades this year, leading to severe water shortages and power outages.

U.S. sanctions and unsustainable Iranian domestic policies will only exacerbate these problems.

A member of the Iranian delegation attending the COP26 conference said that if the sanctions are lifted, there will be no obstacles for Iran to reduce emissions.

However, conservatives under the administration of President Rehi have issued a number of statements, ranging from denying climate change to claiming that COP26 is trying to deprive Iran of its oil and gas rights.

Although the Iranian media basically ignored the summit, this critical view has penetrated into some pro-government conservative media.

At the same time, some reform-minded newspapers also responded to the terrible warnings of UN officials and climate scientists, while avoiding criticism of the government’s low-key attitude towards COP26.

Public opinion is divided. Many people believe that it is unfair to expect Iran to make any promises while the US sanctions continue to be imposed. Others believe that the climate change issue conceals the government’s incompetence on other issues.

Nduka Orjinmo wrote in Abuja: The COP26 conference is not the front page news in Nigeria.

Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil exporter, has pledged to achieve zero emissions by 2060.

Large media outlets have sent reporters to Glasgow, but this is not Nigeria’s front page news.

Nigerian President Mohamedu Buhari said that no one in Nigeria is unaware of the need for urgent action on the environment. He pointed out that the country’s desertification, floods and erosion are sufficient evidence.

But he hopes to get climate financing. This is part of the advanced economies’ commitment to invest 100 billion US dollars in developing countries every year, as well as foreign investment in Nigeria’s natural gas sector to help the country gradually get rid of its dependence on oil, its main source of income.

The president’s words were approved by the people in Glasgow, but in his hometown, those people who use gasoline generators imported from China to supply electricity live in a different reality.

No one here has experienced a stable power supply in their lifetime. If it is necessary to burn coal for this purpose, few people will refuse to use it for climate change issues.

Climate activists, especially in the oil-producing Niger Delta, have long been sounding alarms about the impact of oil drilling and natural gas burning, but the government and international oil companies have shown little sign of action.

Sameer Hashmi, BBC Middle East Business Correspondent, wrote: Although Saudi Arabia seeks to achieve net zero emissions by 2060, the country is increasing its oil production.

For a long time, Saudi Arabia, the world‘s largest oil exporter, has resisted calls from Western countries to set clear emission reduction targets.

Last month, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced that the country has set a goal of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2060.

However, although Saudi Arabia seeks to achieve this goal, they are still increasing their oil production capacity to meet global demand.

The country’s energy minister has repeatedly stated that tackling climate change is necessary, but it cannot be achieved by demonizing hydrocarbons.

The official believes that the world needs both fossil fuels and renewable energy.

Most of the Saudi officials I interviewed there support the crown prince’s goals and his efforts to promote economic diversification by investing in emerging industries. However, the response of environmentalists was even lower.