Joe Biden Xi Jinping Vladimir Putin
Lapresse
Climate Summit, world leaders in comparison
At the start at summit sul clima organized by US President Joe Biden. A 48-hour virtual summit attended by 40 leaders, scientists, experts and other high-profile figures, including Bill Gates and Pope Francis. But also French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin. The appointment, launched today on the occasion of the World Earth Day, opens the way for another, the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP26), scheduled for next November in Glasgow, after the postponement of a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The premises of the two days summoned by Biden are positive: the European Union’s commitment to cut polluting emissions by 55% by 2030 and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s accession to the summit. There stakes is high for the White House tenant, in terms of the United States’ image on the side of fighting global warming, being the second most polluting country in the world behind China, just rejoined the 2015 Paris Agreement after its exit , decided by former President Donald Trump. The summit then goes beyond the desire to confirm the new course of the democratic administration in terms of renewed commitment to the climate: it is an attempt to rediscover credibility, to convince the main partners to opt for a unified approach, and why not to all unite behind the banner of the US leadership.
It is precisely on the climate – a topic at the top of Biden’s domestic politics agenda – that one is playing important diplomatic match which could bring out new alliances and new balances of power. A first signal in this sense came from Beijing which confirmed the participation of the presidente Xi and his “important speech”. It will be the first opportunity for meeting-confrontation since his inauguration in the White House between President Biden and the Chinese leader, in a climate of tension between the two countries on the violations of human rights by China, in particular against Uyghurs, and for economic and trade rivalries, after the first high-level meetings between American and Chinese diplomatic executives last month in Alaska ended in a stalemate. Instead, it seems that Biden and Xi are willing to put the recent animosity in brackets to join forces on climate change.