In the spotlight: leaders, ambitions and a lot of promises ...
Audio 05:26
US President Joe Biden on screen at the US Virtual Global Climate Summit on April 22, 2021. REUTERS - JOHANNA GERON
By: Sébastien Duhamel
11 mins
Publicity
Newspapers around the world are returning to the great climate summit, which opened Thursday, April 22, and the spotlight is on the master of ceremonies, the American president who launched the invitation. The American press is obviously talking about it. "
At the top, Biden calls for swift climate action,
" headlines the
Washington Post.
Less self-centered, "
world leaders commit to efforts on emissions,
" the
Wall Street Journal
displays
.
Graphic in support, also from its front page, the
New York Times
compares the commitments made by each other and wonders at what level the new American goal is on a global scale.
Reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 50 to 52%, from 2005 levels by 2030, "
how ambitious is that
?"
“Asks the daily.
And the answer is less obvious than it seems ...
Objectives based on different references
In reality, "it
all depends on the year from which you start counting
," explains the
New York Times, "the United States decided to measure its reductions from 2005, which corresponds roughly to the time when the The country's fossil fuel emissions have peaked
”. Whereas if we look at European countries for example, “
they tend to measure from 1990, the year when emissions started to decrease on the continent
”. Result, further analyzes the
New York Times
: "
A later baseline
" makes the United States' target appear "
a little better
", starting from a peak in pollution, but "
an earlier baseline makes Europe appear more ambitious, as it has reduced emissions for longer.
»CQFD.
The press almost unanimous on the ambitions of the American president
Anyway, the press is almost unanimous on the ambitions, on the will of the American president. "
Biden poses as the leader of the cause, he wants to give his country as an example,
" said
Le Soir
in Belgium. "
Biden breaks with Trump's policy, he gives a boost to the international climate fight and multilateralism
", analyzes
El PaÍs
in Spain. Yes, "
Biden gives new impetus
" confirms the Vanguardia still in Spain. In Great Britain,
The Independent
calls for action. As world leaders commit, "
it's time for the British to take the lead on climate action,
" he writes.
On the other hand, the Russian press is not tender.
Kommersant is
interested in the substance of Joe Biden's speech, "
the particular emphasis on boosting employment
" offered by the green economy. For the Russian daily, this is probably "
the way to interest Americans
" on this subject.
Kommersant
especially remembers the many hiccups of organization. He speaks of a "
disastrous confusion
" during the videoconference, mainly with the speech of Emmanuel Macron, recorded "
while all the leaders who preceded him were live
" underlines the newspaper. So he gives the Russian version of this story.
Broadcast interrupted, Vladimir Poutine is then invited to speak, but he does not know what to do, "
he turns to his assistants
".
Joe Biden "
nods nervously
".
In all, "
a minute and a half passed in this suffering,
" ironically the Russian newspaper, before Vladimir Poutin finally speaks, followed by the uninterrupted broadcast this time of Emmanuel Macron's speech.
Concerns surrounding the Covid-19 epidemic in India
The Covid-19 is obviously present in the international press, the situation in India is particularly worrying. A photo to illustrate this situation: in a vacant lot in New Delhi, a man next to a corpse. He picks up a piece of wood, he "
prepares a funeral fire to cremate a victim of Covid-19
", explains the legend of the
National Post
in Canada. The same photo that is also found on the front page of the
Wall-Street Journal,
in the United States where the
New York Times
also devotes its international edition to the case of India.
"
A maximum of contamination and a lack of oxygen
", also worries
El Mercurio
in Chile. Yes, "
India is fighting for air
", poster
Frankfurter Allgemeine,
Germany. However, the catastrophic situation in India, it is still the Indian newspapers which speak about it best. "
We are supposed to give life but if we cannot even give oxygen, our patients will die,
" testimony of the director of a Delhi hospital to read in
The Times of India.
Yesterday afternoon, his establishment had only two hours of oxygen reserve and 110 patients to manage. Across the country,
The Hindu
Sadly keeps the accounts: more than 332,000 cases in one day, 2,247 more deaths, "
India represents one in three cases of Covid-19 in the world
".
A scandal and a hope against Malaria in Great Britain
A scandal on the front page of British newspapers, but also a hope in the fight against Malaria. A scandal first in the
Daily Telegraph
and The
Times,
which tells us that Boris Johnson is "
saddened by the bitterness of his former adviser
". Dominic Cummings, a former close friend of the Prime Minister's family, "
is accused of having leaked texts from the Prime Minister
". "
Systematically,
" said the source of The
Times,
it stains.
The
Guardian
prefers, for its part, to highlight this glimmer of hope in the search for a reliable vaccine against Malaria.
"
A vaccine developed by scientists at the Jenner Institute in Oxford, shows an effectiveness of more than 77%
", the result of a 12-month trial carried out in Burkina Faso, specifies the
Guardian.
It is also “
the first vaccine to reach the WHO target, set at 75%
”.
Wider tests must now start, so it has not been done but it would indeed be a great step forward.
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