"Disappointing" - U.S. President Biden criticizes China and Russia

WORLD "Disappointing" - U.S. President Biden criticizes China and Russia 2 hrs ago | U.S. President Joe Biden has blamed China and Russia for the disappointment of many climate activists with the decisions of the G-20 summit. The disappointment had to do with the fact that the two countries had shown no willingness to make any commitments on climate change, Biden said Sunday after the two-day summit in Rome. "There's a reason for people to be disappointed. I found it disappointing myself." The world climate conference begins in Glasgow, Scotland. 120 heads of state and government are negotiating climate action. The talks are accompanied by protests by climate change activists in the city. Earlier, the G-20 in Rome reached a compromise on climate neutrality. The talks are accompanied by protests from climate protection activists in the city. Nevertheless, the group of leading economic powers had made "significant progress" with a view to the climate conference in Glasgow. More needs to happen, however, he said. But, he said, the main thing to look at is "what China is not doing, what Russia is not doing and what Saudi Arabia is not doing." Leading economic powers failed to agree on ambitious common climate targets at their G-20 summit in Rome, Italy, on Sunday. The final declaration does not include a specific target date for either the all-important carbon neutrality or the phase-out of coal-fired power generation. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping did not travel to Rome for the summit, but were only connected via video. At the summit, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov defended his country's goal of becoming CO2 neutral only by 2060. "This is our calculated commitment and we are sticking to it." Continuing, he said, "No one has proven to us or anyone else that 2050 is anything that everyone has to sign." Merkel considers climate resolutions a success German Chancellor Angela Merkel saw the climate protection resolutions as a "good signal." She highlighted the fact that the 19 leading economic powers and the European Union had joined forces for the first time since 2016 to commit to the 2015 Paris climate agreement. After that, U.S. President Donald Trump had pulled out of the climate agreement. His successor Biden, who attended a regular G-20 summit in Rome for the first time, reversed this move as one of his first acts in office. Italy's Prime Minister Mario Draghi defended the results. "This summit was a success," the 74-year-old said at the closing press conference. He highlighted the G20's commitment to the 2015 goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees if possible. He also said an important goal had been achieved with the pledge to end funding for coal to generate electricity. France's President Emmanuel Macron also gave a positive assessment. He saw the high-level meeting as a "success" in which results had been delivered. He said this was particularly true for contentious issues surrounding climate change. The Rome summit had provided an opportunity to "revive convergence" among the world's largest economies ahead of the much larger UN climate conference in Glasgow, Macron said. Climate activists, on the other hand, expressed disappointment with the outcome of the summit of the 20 major industrialized and emerging economies. UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who traveled on Sunday from the G20 to the climate summit in Glasgow, tweeted, "I leave Rome with unfulfilled hopes - but at least they are not buried." The G20 group is responsible for 80 percent of the world's emissions. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also expressed skepticism. It is true that there has been progress. But the pledges made by the heads of state and government to curb climate change are only "drops in a rapidly warming ocean," Johnson said. He also pointed to the historic 2015 Paris climate agreement. Six years later, the pledges made then are beginning to sound "frankly hollow," Johnson said. "If we don't act now, the Paris Agreement will be seen in the future not as the moment humanity opened its eyes to the problem, but as the moment we backed down and turned away."