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Macron urges US, China to pay their fair share on climate
"We need the United States and China to step up" on emissions cuts and financial aid, Macron told French and African climate campaigners on the sidelines of the UN climate summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
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France's President Emmanuel Macron (center) meets with young Africans on the sideline of the COP27 climate summit in Egypt's Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh on November 7, 2022.
(AFP/Ludovic Marin)
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rench President Emmanuel Macron on Monday urged the United States, China and other non-European rich nations ahead of COP27 talks to pay their fair share to help poorer countries deal with climate change.
"We need the United States and China to step up" on emissions cuts and financial aid, Macron told French and African climate campaigners on the sidelines of the UN climate summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
"Europeans are paying," he said. "We are the only ones paying."
"Pressure must be put on rich non-European countries, telling them, 'you have to pay your fair share'," he said.
Stepping up financial aid to poorer countries that face the brunt of climate-induced disasters has emerged as a major issue at the 13-day climate conference that began on Sunday.
The heads of developing nations won a small victory when delegates agreed to put the controversial issue of money for "loss and damage" on the agenda.
Nearly 100 heads of state and government will speak at the summit on Monday and Tuesday, but China's President Xi Jinping is not attending the conference and US President Joe Biden will come later this week following Tuesday's US midterm elections.
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will use a speech at the United Nations climate summit in Egypt to tell world leaders to deliver on their promises to tackle global warming.
Sunak, who became prime minister late last month, had initially said he would be too busy coming up with a plan to fix Britain's economy to attend the COP27 summit, drawing criticism from political opponents and campaigners.
Now, he will join more than 100 other leaders speaking at the event.
He is expected to call on governments to deliver on the promises made at COP26 in the Scottish city of Glasgow a year ago, when host nation Britain helped to broker a wide-ranging climate pact - much of which has yet to be implemented.
"The world came together in Glasgow with one last chance to create a plan that would limit global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees. The question today is: can we summon the collective will to deliver on those promises?" he will say, according to extracts released by his office in advance.
The chances look slim. A United Nations report at the end of October said government pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions put the planet on track for an average 2.8 Celsius temperature rise this century after "woefully inadequate" progress.
Sunak will also meet his French and Italian counterparts on the sidelines of the UN conference.
