display
It's a diplomatic mistake during the virtual climate summit - just an hour after it started. Emmanuel Macron has the floor. The French President only speaks for a few moments. Suddenly US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken can be heard: “Thank you, Mr. President. I am now handing over to the President of the Russian Federation, His Excellency Vladimir Putin. ”Nothing happens. In the East Room of the White House, where Joe Biden and Blinken are sitting Thursday morning, Macron can still be heard. It is a pre-recorded speech.
Meanwhile, Putin is in the picture on video. He is irritated by the situation of suddenly being called. Putin is silent, turns to an employee not visible in the picture. Blinken is also unsettled, turns around. So he announces Putin's contribution again. Putin demonstratively lets a few seconds pass before speaking. "We had technical difficulties," said Blinken after Putin's speech. He immediately broadcasts Macron's speech again, this time in full length.
Macron's word is cut off, Putin takes precedence - this scene is a bit embarrassing for the world power USA, especially in the current extremely tense situation with Russia.
What kind of excitement would there have been if the Donald Trump administration had gone wrong?
It would have been said that Trump's closeness to Putin and his contempt for Western allies were once again shown here.
One could mock that the US is not doing quite that easily with a return to harmonious multilateralism.
On Thursday, however, there was no outrage on the news channel CNN.
display
The summit had already started with a technical glitch.
The entire speech by Vice President Kamala Harris and the beginning of Biden's address were heard twice with a delay.
Later, during the Japanese Prime Minister's speech, the director's instruction that “Germany” was next in line could be heard.
Chancellor Angela Merkel only got the floor after the Prime Ministers from Canada and Bangladesh.
As sleek as the climate summit was technically, quite a few of the 40 or so heads of state and government that Biden had gathered were ambitious.
The US President himself repeated his mantra, which is: We have to act - now.
The fight against global warming requires quick action and is "a moral and economic necessity".
US Climate Commissioner John Kerry, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and President Joe Biden listen to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in the East Room of the White House
Source: AFP / BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI
"We really have no choice," said Biden.
The US wants to lead by example by reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 50 to 52 percent by 2030 compared to 2005.
So far, the US had committed itself to a reduction of 26 to 28 percent by the year 2025 as part of the Paris climate protection agreement.
Biden cannot be blamed for a lack of ambition.
display
With an infrastructure package, Biden wants to make America cleaner and more efficient, promote thermal insulation and modernize the ailing railroad.
174 billion dollars (145 billion euros) alone is to flow into half a million charging stations for electric cars.
So far, e-cars have only had a market share of two percent in the USA.
In 2020, more e-cars were sold in Germany than in the USA with four times as many inhabitants.
Biden also plans to equip millions of houses with solar panels and better insulation.
This is aimed primarily at low-income households and members of minorities.
The windows in the USA have a legendary bad reputation.
In all of these plans Biden does not see do-gooding, but a requirement in order to survive on the world stage.
The federal and state levels, cities, and small and large businesses would need to work together.
Biden did not mention his own Achilles heel: The Republicans continue to deny some of the climate change, just as Trump once did.
"Cancer" is caused by wind turbines, Trump claimed again and again during his presidency.
Today the Republicans oppose Biden's infrastructure program.
Biden's majorities in Congress are wafer-thin.
In the midterm elections at the end of 2022, he could also lose these majorities.
The appeal to the world community to act now is at the same time a domestic political self-reassurance.
The virtual climate summit, said Biden, should be only one step on the way to the UN climate conference COP in November in Glasgow.
China is hiding the massive expansion of coal-fired power generation
display
The accents that the leaders set on Thursday were significant in several ways.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres railed against coal-fired power plants and called for the corresponding subsidies to be abolished.
And China, the largest emitter of carbon dioxide?
State and party leader Xi Jinping announced that coal-fired power stations would be "strictly controlled" and coal consumption would be "strictly limited" and "gradually reduced".
He did not mention the fact that China is expanding (and exporting) its coal-fired power plants.
For this purpose, Xi presented beautiful verbal images of green mountains as "golden mountains"; he invoked a "better life", social justice and international law.
Neither Xi nor India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced any new climate targets.
Chancellor Angela Merkel joined the summit from the Chancellery
Source: Getty Images / Pool
The most astonishing contribution was made by the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who once portrayed himself as a friend of Trump.
Now he paid tribute to the "return of the US to the front line of the fight against climate change".
Johnson extolled the domestic wind energy sector.
His country is "the Saudi Arabia of the wind", addressed the loss of biodiversity.
Johnson did like Biden, emphasizing the economic opportunities of climate change, invoking "growth and jobs".
The task is not about "politically correct" naive nature conservation.
Johnson quoted Biden's motto "build back better" and added: "build back greener".
Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced more ambitious climate targets for his country.
Chancellor Merkel indirectly slapped ex-President Trump in the face.
"I am very happy that the United States is back in climate policy," said Merkel.
It is undisputed that the world needs the contribution of the United States.
You are facing a "global Herculean task".
For Emmanuel Macron, 2030 is the new 2050
In his - initially interrupted - speech, French President Macron urged an "acceleration" of the climate targets. Basically, the year 2030 is the new 2050. Regulations on an international level are necessary. Putin, who had only promised to attend the summit on Monday, did not announce any new goals. But the debate shows "how deeply we all share the concern about climate change," said Putin. He did not mention the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline, which the USA rejects.
David Kabua, President of the oceanic Marshall Islands (53,000 inhabitants) threatened by rising sea levels, lamented the "excuse" that emissions reductions are too expensive. Rather, “unmistakable signals” are required. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was defensive. He promised measures to preserve the Amazon region. Brazil will end illegal logging by 2030.
After various heads of state and government, Xiye Bastida, 18, organizer of Fridays for Future in New York, got the floor.
“You have to accept that the era of fossil fuels is over,” the young woman called out to the participants.
People on islands, in Africa, on the Amazon and in the Arctic suffered most from climate change.
Subsidies for harmful energies should be stopped.
The goal of a limited warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius is already a compromise.
"You will keep telling us that we are unrealistic and unreasonable," said Bastida.
A lack of ambition and courage are "unrealistic and unreasonable".
In a very American way, Bastida described the climate crisis not only as the greatest challenge, but also as the "greatest opportunity to change the world".