‘Tackling climate change needs concrete action, not empty words:’ China hits back at Biden

In response to US President Joe Biden’s criticism of the Chinese president not attending the COP26 Glasgow climate change summit, Beijing says “tackling climate change requires concrete action, not empty words.”

During the COP26 summit on Tuesday, Biden repeatedly referred to the Chinese and Russian leaders’ absence at the summit.

“With regard to the disappointment, the disappointment relates to the fact that… not only Russia but China basically didn’t show up in terms of any commitments to deal with climate change,” Biden said at a news conference at the end of the two-day leaders’ summit in Rome.

China has enforced tight travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Chinese President Xi Jinping has not left his country since the beginning of the contagion. Instead, he addressed observers and delegates in a written message on Monday.

“Actions speak louder than words,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said in response to Biden’s criticism on Wednesday. “What we need in order to deal with climate change is concrete action rather than empty words,” he added. “China’s actions in response to climate change are real.”

Welcoming the US’s return to the Paris climate pact, Wang voiced hope that the US would earnestly shoulder its due responsibilities, come up with and implement specific policies and measures on emissions reduction as soon as possible, and honor its funding commitments.

Former US President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the Paris climate accord, making the US the only country that was not part of the agreement.

The permanent representative of China to the UN, Zhang Jun, said on Wednesday that China had been earnestly supporting climate action and was not the one that withdrew from the Paris agreement. “The US however has backpedaled its climate policies many times. Instead of blame shifting, what it should do now is to shoulder responsibility and take concrete actions,” he said.

Kremlin: Russia not minimizing importance of COP26 talks, 'serious' about climate change

The Kremlin rejects US President Joe Biden

Biden also blasted Russian President Vladimir Putin for failing to turn up, saying, “His tundra is burning, literally, the tundra is burning. He has serious, serious climate problems, and he is mum on willingness to do anything.”

“We disagree,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday, adding, “We are certainly not minimizing the importance of the event in Glasgow, but Russia’s actions are consistent and thoughtful and serious.”

In a video address, Putin told the COP26 leaders meeting that Russia’s vast swaths of forest would help keep Moscow on track for carbon neutrality by 2060.

Over 120 world leaders in Glasgow for

The Glasgow summit, which runs until November 12, comes as extreme weather events across the world underscore the devastating impact of climate change.

China is the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases responsible for climate change and has pledged to begin reducing that output by 2030 and obtaining carbon neutrality by 2060.

At the end of the summit, more than 120 world leaders promised to protect Earth’s forests and to stop and reverse deforestation by 2030. Among them are several countries with huge areas of tree cover, including Brazil, China, Colombia, the Congo, Indonesia, Russia, and the US.

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