Return to Transcripts main page
Connect the World
High Stakes Climate Conference Begins In Scotland; CNN Speaks To Scotland's First Minister About Climate Crisis; How The Energy Industry Sees Climate Change Aired 10-11a ET
Aired November 01, 2021 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:00:23]
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR (voice-over): The last best chance. The COP26 climate meeting is underway. President Joe Biden says
there will be a lot of ground to make up for major emitters who are noticeably absent.
Whatever commitments are made in Glasgow for the Venice of Africa, it is too little too late. Senegal's coastline being eaten away by the effects of
climate change.
Plus, sheer relief and happiness. Australian families finally reunited after being stranded abroad throughout the pandemic.
ANDERSON (on camera): I'm Becky Anderson. Hello and welcome to CONNECT THE WORLD.
Well, it's now or never. That's the sentiment at a landmark climate meeting in Glasgow in Scotland. What world leaders accomplish at the COP26 summit,
as it is known could have a huge impact on our planet for centuries to come. The U.N. Secretary General had this powerful warning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONIO GUTERRES, SECRETARY-GENERAL, UNITED NATIONS: Enough of killing ourselves with carbon. Enough of treating nature like a toilet. Enough of
burning and drilling and mining our way deeper, we are digging our own graves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON (voice-over): Well, we are waiting to hear from the U.S. President Joe Biden any minutes. British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, who is CO
hosting this summit, says this is a decisive moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BORIS JOHNSON, PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNITED KINGDOM: Humanity has long since run down the clock on climate change. It's one minute to midnight on
that doomsday clock, and we need to act now.
If we don't get serious about climate change today, it will be too late for our children to do so tomorrow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, among the key goals for COP26, containing global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre industrial levels, holding wealthy nations to
their promises of providing $100 billion a year to help developing nations fight the climate crisis, and taking steps to secure global net zero
emissions by mid-century.
Well, the question now can they turn these goals into action?
CNN's Phil Black is nearby in Edinburgh in Scotland. CNN's Nic Robertson is in Rome, where many of these leaders just attended the G20. And my question
to both of you is, frankly, are we seeing any reason to be hopeful that this summit will produce tangible change?
Let's start if we can, with you, Phil, in Scotland.
PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Becky, I think it's fair to say that expectations are pretty low at this point. And you
get a sense of that, through just the handful of speeches that we've heard so far in the opening of this event. It has been a stream of incredibly
alarming language. But you cannot say that it has been overdone.
That language is perfectly in tune with this moment. It is perfectly in tune with what's at stake, with what the science tells us. The consequences
will be if stronger action is not taken within a very defined and narrow window of time.
And so, that is why you've been hearing these world leaders from the British prime minister talking about it being one minute to midnight, on
the doomsday clock to the U.N. Secretary General, saying we are killing ourselves with carbon.
And as part of that opening line-up, we also heard from the U.K.'s Prince Charles, also using some pretty dramatic language. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRINCE CHARLES, PRINCE OF WALES: Climate change and biodiversity loss are no different. In fact, they pose an even greater existential threat to the
extent that we have to put ourselves on what might be called a war-like footing.
Having myself had the opportunity of consulting many of you over these past 18 months, I know you all carry a heavy burden on your shoulders. And you
do not need me to tell you that the eyes and hopes of the world are upon you to act with all dispatch and decisively because time has quite
literally run out
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[10:05:01]
BLACK: For a moment, we also heard from the prime minister of Barbados who was speaking to the world on behalf of small island states, vulnerable
countries for whom the climate crisis is, in every sense, existential.
She said to the leaders assembled there that a two-degree increase in average global temperature is a death sentence for them. She implored them
to do more. And that is ultimately why all of this language is being used. And that's because the offers on the table or the individual pledges and
commitments from countries do not add up sufficiently to keeping to the goal, which is ensuring the global average temperature increase does not
exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The reality is, at the start of this conference, we are nowhere near that goal. The hope is that over the next two weeks, the gap can be short.
Becky.
ANDERSON: And these talks, Nic, off to an ominous start. After G20 leaders who had met over the weekend, and most of them in Rome failed to steal a
march with anything like what you would describe as ambitious commitments. Just explain what actually resulted from G20 with regard climate.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (on camera): Yes, Becky, there was a real hope that the G20 would be a springboard for COP26. That
these G20 nations who make up 80 percent of the world's GDP, 60 percent of the population of the planet, and make up 80 percent of the products that
are contributing to climate change, i.e., they have the resources and a big responsibility on their heads, really failed to live up to expectations.
President Biden for his part, blamed it on President Xi and President Putin in part for not showing up. What did they agree to, there was a hope that
they would agree to a net-zero carbon neutrality -- excuse me, while the wind picks up here in Rome, and the furniture blows around.
A net carbon zero by the year 2050. But what was actually finally agreed was close to 2060. So, disappointment there.
And on -- and on coal, there, again, (INAUDIBLE) below what many people had hoped. They agreed to stop international financing of coal power generating
plants by the end of the year, but that doesn't stop them financing those same power generating stations back home.
There were small glimmers on the horizon on aluminum and steel tariffs, which have been a cause to the United States and the European Union. There
was a moderate breakthrough. Ursula Von der Leyen, the European commissioner framed it this way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
URSULA VON DER LEYEN, PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN COMMISSION: This marks a milestone in the renewed E.U.-U.S. partnership. And it is our global first
in our efforts to achieve the decarbonization of the global steel production and trade. It is a big step forward and fighting climate change.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: So, aluminum and steel in particular that will be more carbon friendly. That was part of the drive -- part of the initiative there to
lower the tariffs. But as Boris Johnson said before he left the summit here, what's happened and been achieved in Rome at the G20 really amounts
to a drop in a rapidly warming ocean. Becky.
ANDERSON: Nic Robertson is in Rome.
Fellows in Scotland and the -- thank you guys. The leader of Scotland says when it comes to making plans to fight climate change, there is a gap
between rhetoric and reality.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon spoke with my colleague Christiane Amanpour at the summit. About the expectations of those attending. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICOLA STURGEON, FIRST MINISTER OF SCOTLAND: I hope there's a bit of underplaying of expectations now in order to over perform over the course
of the summer. I'm not convinced that is what is actually happening. I think there is a genuine gap between the rhetoric and the reality.
On climate finance, I hope that is right. But, you know, the U.N. report published last week showed that the commitment which was made to be
delivered in 2020, is only on track to be delivered in 2023 cannot be pulled forward. Big question. I hope the answer is yes.
But crucially, it's about increasing the scale of near term ambition to cut emissions. Emissions are still rising globally, quite sharply. They've got
to reduce by about 45 percent by 2030. To keep that ambition of 1.5 alive. So, that's what we've got to focus on.
Now, if that gap is not closed completely by the end of this two weeks, what happens after that? That's a big question.
Right now, countries are under an obligation to revise their nationally determined contributions every five years. That surely has to become every
year -- at every two years if we're to maintain any sense of momentum in the early part of this decade.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[10:10:05]
ANDERSON (voice-over): Well, that's Nicola Sturgeon speaking with my colleague, Christiane Amanpour. And you can see more of that interview on
"AMANPOUR", which airs in about four minute's time.
ANDERSON (on camera): Well, I want to dig deeper into how COP26 may impact the future of energy, and consequently, our future. I'm joined by someone
who has been described as one of the energy world's great minds. He is Robin Mills, a former leading executive at Royal Dutch Shell, and currently
the CEO of Qamar Energy.
It's good to have you. What does one of the world's greatest minds on energy? Or how does, Robin Mills -- assess what we are hearing, as this
meeting builders are sort of lost great chance as it were?
How do you assess what we are hearing and its impact at this point? Where are we at?
ROBIN MILLS, CHIIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, QAMAR ENERGY: Well, I think every one of these meetings, it's the last chance, and none of them are the last
chance, right? Everything that we do at one of these meetings and the other annual because this one is delayed by the pandemic, principle, that annual.
it should be a step forward, it has to be very measurable step forward.
And given the timescale we're on to hit this 1.5 degree target, you know, we need to see very dramatic action, and very dramatic progress within that
decade. And so, you know, losing a year summit that doesn't really go anywhere, is very damaging. But you know, it's never the last word. There's
always another summit, which hopefully more progress can be made.
ANDERSON: How is big oil going to help the progress that needs to be made? There'll be people here, who now understand your background, and say, you
would effectively say, look, it's always going to be the last big chance and you have spent a career imbued in the -- in the oil industry.
I mean, you know, just here being based here, you see the pivots clean energy, the big oil companies are very visibly not invited to this
conference, they will be there on the sidelines. What is their perspective at this point?
MILLS: Yes, so I think, just -- first, as an opener, you know, in my job these days, I'm covering all kinds of energy, right?
ANDERSON: Yes.
MILLS: So, not (INAUDIBLE), just oil and gas industry. But look, I think we're at a very interesting point at the moment, because we see there's an
energy crisis, or at least an energy crunch going on at the moment.
Europe, in particular, East Asia, are very short of oil, gas, coal, prices -- particularly for gas and coal, very, very high. You know, real prospects
of shortages. And yet we know we need to cut greenhouse gas emissions very dramatically.
So, you know, part of the debate will be well, this shows we need to move even faster to low carbon energy, you know, agreed. The other part of the
debate is, well, we need to do that in an intelligent way, so that we still maintain necessary energy for the economy to keep growing, but in the
cleanest way we can over this transition period. And that I think, is a circle that has not yet been squared. And I think a lot of the debate
doesn't even yet engage with it. This is a circle to be squared.
ANDERSON: And here is the contradiction. You know, Joe Biden at present calling on big oil companies to raise their production domestically at
home, he sees the price of gas going on. That's not good for him as he moves towards -- the Democrats move towards the elections in 2022.
At the same time, calling on the fossil fuel companies to quite simply do more and supporting albeit perhaps less vocally than others around the
world, the idea that really, it's time to stop financing the coal industry.
Let's take the UAE as an example of one of the big oil producers who was out of the gate relatively early for an OPEC member, a couple of months
ago, with a net zero goal. Followed by Saudi Arabia, Qatar announcing climate ministry these days -- big LNG exporter.
What did these guys -- what did these oil exports, and what are -- what are these big national oil companies need to do to convince the naysayers or
skeptics around the world that were once that countries their economies were built on the revenues from fossil fuels, that going forward they get
it?
I mean, are we seeing enough substance in these M.O. use, which many people are describing these net zero goals as -- at this point, let's focus on
this part of the world and then get a bit wider.
MILLS: Yes, look, I think the UAE has always been ahead of the debate on this among steel producers. In Saudi Arabia, I know, to be fair, somewhat
behind. But the U.S. decision, I think, announcement has been a catalyst. We've seen that net zero goal from Saudi Arabia and from Bahrain, you know,
-- I hope --
(CROSSTALK)
ANDERSON: And that's important.
MILLS: And hopefully there'll be other. The catalysts are very important.
ANDERSON: Right.
MILLS: Now, I think if we talking about decarbonizing the domestic economy here, you know, I've laid out in different times how that can be done? I
think that's actually surprisingly not that difficult by 2050. It's quite doable.
If you talk about the other part of the challenge is much tougher. How do you replace an economy built on the export of oil and gas with something
else?
[10:15:03]
MILLS: Now, by 2050, if you look at the International Energy Agency's predictions for a net zero world, oil and gas consumption will be down very
heavily. But it will still exist, there will still be a market for the last few producers a low cost and low carbon. But obviously, they need to
replace most of their exports with clean fuels or something else. Right?
So, hydrogen has been very popular as an opportunity. There can be other synthetic fuels that can be using fossil fuels as carbon capture and
storage. You know, those are really the options, but these will not fill the entire gap. You know, there is still a big gap and the only way that
can be met is by broader diversification, which has been a goal of the Middle East countries since the 1970s.
ANDERSON: And climate financing for the developing world, it is from the developed world that some -- the significant amount of emissions are
coming. We will see later the impact that those emissions are having on a country like Senegal.
And we will talk later this hour and through to the next about those notable absentees from this both the G20 and the COP26 meetings on why the
absence of China, Russia for example is important at this stage for the time being. Thank you.
Just a little later we'll be connecting you to the climate refugees who are looking for real world action instead of debate. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We don't have anywhere to go, he says. If we had the means we would move. Where we are living is not safe.
We are powerless.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON (voice-over): And we'll bring you extensive coverage throughout the COP26 Climate Conference in Glasgow in Scotland. It runs until
Thursday, November the 12th. CONNECT THE WORLD will continue to bring you as we move through those days. Everything that we get from there and why it
is so significant for all of us.
The latest climate using COP26 developments are @cnn.com/climate.
Well, you're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. We are at the expo in Dubai tonight. I had on the show for the first 20 months -- or for the first time
at least in 20 months.
Israel letting tourists enter the country. The vaccination documentation rules that you need to know tears of joy at some Australian airports after
months of lockdowns. Not everyone though is cheering. We will tell you why. That all coming up after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:22:57]
ANDERSON (on camera): And you're watching connect world I'm Becky Anderson. It's been 21 months since China announced a man have died from severe
pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus.
ANDERSON (voice-over): Well, as of today, that same virus has killed more than 5 million people worldwide. And that's only the reported deaths. The
WHO says this pandemic is persisting in large part because of vaccine inequality as we've been talking about this show -- on this show for
months.
Out of 7 billion doses administered worldwide, only 3.6 percent have been in low income countries.
ANDERSON (on camera): With almost no hope left that this virus will go away anytime soon, countries are now deciding whether to continue at zero COVID
approach or learn to live with it.
Israel has become the latest country to ease some major restrictions, allowing vaccinated or recovered tourists to enter for the first time in 20
months.
CNN's Hadas Gold has a lot more on this. She joins me now live from Jerusalem. Hadas.
HADAS GOLD, CNN POLITICS, MEDIA AND BUSINESS REPORTER (on camera): Well, Becky, like you said, nearly 20 months, Israel has essentially been close
to all outsiders, a very limited number of people were allowed to enter but they had to have prior approval.
But starting today, vaccinated and recovered tourists will be allowed to enter Israel without any sort of pre-approval. However, there are quite a
few restrictions still in place.
First of all, to be considered vaccinated, a tourist must have been vaccinated within the past six months or if more than six months have
passed, they need to have received a booster dose of one of the pre- approved vaccines. Or somebody who has recovered from coronavirus in the past six months will be considered vaccinated or if more than six months
have passed, then they also need to receive a dose of the booster vaccine.
Travelers also need to take a PCR test before they board the flight, and a PCR test upon arrival into Israel. So, as you can imagine, this already
restricts the number of people who can come in because some countries as you have noted have not yet rolled out booster campaigns and children who
cannot be vaccinated as of right now will not be allowed to enter Israel.
[10:25:01]
GOLD: In an interesting development as well, Israel has decided to also recognize Russia's Sputnik vaccine, despite the fact that it's not
recognize but the WHO or the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Israel will start recognizing this vaccine as of November 15.
Now, this is being seen as largely a political decision. This announcement came after Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with Russian
President Vladimir Putin. But the people who received the Sputnik vaccine upon entry into Israel will have to take a serological test to prove their
antibodies.
So, while this is expected to be a restricted number of tourists entering the country, it is expected to help the economy and help the beleaguered
tourism industry here. The Israeli Ministry of Tourism says that the closure over the past 20 or so months cost the Israeli economy more than $7
billion.
In fact, 2019 the year before the pandemic was a record year for tourism in Israel, more than 4-1/2million visitors. Becky.
ANDERSON: Hadas Gold is in Jerusalem for us. Hadas, thank you.
Australia open again for some, at least, after 20 months of tough restrictions and lockdowns. Tears of joy and hugs around airports in Sydney
and Melbourne as the border reopened for some travelers and people reunited with loved ones.
Officials, at least, believe these strict lockdowns did save lives. Angus Watson with this report.
ANGUS WATSON, CNN PRODUCER: Fortress Australia as it came to be known now dismantled tearful reunions at Sydney Airport on Monday morning.
WATSON (voice-over): No caps on the number of people that could come into the country. No 14 days hotel quarantine required.
Since March 2020, Australia has kept its borders shut tight. Limiting the number of its own citizens, residents, and their families that could come
in each week to about 2,000 people.
That bottleneck forcing the price of tickets higher and higher, stranding some 40,000 Australians around the world as the pandemic raged.
WATSON (on camera): The Australian government believed that might have saved some 30,000 lives as Australia sheltered as best it could throughout
the pandemic. Now, as lockdowns end in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne high vaccination rates are giving governments the confidence not just to end
those lock downs, but to throw open the borders to Australians and their families and residents as well.
But some of those people feel like they've been sacrificed for Australia's success.
NICK COSTELLO, TRAVELER: It really mixed emotions to be back in Australia. I live in the U.S. and I'm just here now for a week to attend my father's
funeral who passed away last week. I've been trying to get back for the last couple of months to see my dad.
I felt like this -- there's been a huge human cost that's been paid for a lot of Australian citizens that live in other places or travel overseas.
WATSON (voice-over): As Australia opens its international borders today through Sydney and through Melbourne, there remains a divide between the
states that do have COVID-19 in the community and those that don't -- COVID zero states, like Queensland and Western Australia who haven't had an
outbreak of the Delta variant this year remain much lower in the vaccination rates.
WATSON (on camera): Then, states like New South Wales, Victoria, and the Australian Capital Territory that have had a bad outbreak this year, which
has forced vaccination rates higher the states that don't have COVID-19 in the community want to keep their borders closed for weeks and in some
cases, months to the states that do have COVID-19.
That's created this strange situation in which people arriving in Sydney today might have to wait weeks, if not months to travel around the country,
despite just having traveled around the world. Angus Watson, CNN, Sydney.
ANDERSON: Well, Thailand now welcoming fully vaccinated tourists from dozens of countries considered low risk for COVID. And they won't be
required to quarantine.
ANDERSON (voice-over): Travelers will need to stay one night at a government approved hotel and have a negative COVID-19 test before they are
free to travel around the country.
Now, this should give a much needed boost to Thailand's vital tourism industry which has taken a massive hit during the pandemic.
ANDERSON (on camera): But you're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Becky Anderson. Just ahead, we'll meet some of the people whose lives have been
turned upside down by the climate crisis.
Anderson (voice-over): They can't wait for 2030 to see help. These are the plight of climate refugees and their story is up next.
And terrifying pictures from Tokyo where passengers scrambling for their lives from a man with a knife and a fire. All the details are coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:31:40]
ANDERSON: Welcome back. I'm Becky Anderson in Dubai and you're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. And you will know from watching this program that Expo
2020 here kicked off in Dubai a month or so ago. It's a giant event by any comparisons and did the first week spotlight the climate crisis. Right now
in Scotland, of course, we are keeping a watch on climate talks. They're described as some of the most important in years as we've been reporting
world leaders gathered at that COP26 summit in Glasgow.
But there are major no shows. China and Russia, two of the biggest greenhouse gas emitters in the world. The U.N.'s latest climate report says
the world must cut emissions by half over the next decade if we are to avoid an impending climate disaster. Well, Glasgow gathering comes hot on
the heels of the G20 leaders meeting in Rome where quite frankly, leaders there failed to put an end date on the use of coal which is the single
biggest contributor to the climate crisis.
Keep in mind, 20 nations account for 80 percent of global emissions. But according to the U.N.'s emissions gap report, these six G20 countries, U.S.
Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Australia and South Korea have failed to meet their older emissions targets. Though it gets worse. Coastal communities all
around the world risk going under for menacing storm surges intensified by rising sea levels.
And that is especially urgent for those who make their home in a city that was once celebrated as the Venice of Africa. CNN's Fred Pleitgen is there
in Saint-Louis in Senegal and he joins me now live. And just put this into context for us if you will, as I think I'm right in saying 20,000 delegates
meet in Glasgow, in Scotland to discuss the way forward to deal with climate change. You are aware residents quite frankly, feel it every day.
Just explain if you will.
FRED PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you're absolutely right, Becky. It certainly is the case that a lot of those grim projections
that you hear from scientists a lot of the time and a lot of the things that you hear at summits like the COp26. A lot of that is grim reality here
on the ground in Saint-Louis in Senegal. If you look behind me, you can see there's some fishermen, we're currently tending to their nets.
But you can also see that the buildings behind them are absolutely destroyed. And that comes from storm surges that are happening because the
sea levels are rising because of global warming. So it's something that the people here feel every day, and it's something that really takes a toll on
the communities here. You look at the houses behind me, there are still people living in those houses knowing full well that their room could be
the next one to be washed away by those rising sea levels.
However, there's also thousands of people with already been displaced. Entire communities that are being ripped apart, especially in this part of
Saint-Louis where you have a big fishing community. Let's have a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PLEITGEN (voice-over): The Fisherman's lives have always been tough here in Saint-Louis in Northern Senegal, fighting for survival on the harsh
Atlantic Ocean. Now because of climate change the sea that has already provided for their livelihood is destroying their existence.
[10:35:05]
PLEITGEN: Shik Zar (ph) shaped Tsar and his family live in what's left of their house have destroyed by a storm surge knowing full well the rest of
the building could be washed away anytime.
We don't have anywhere to go, he says. If we had the means, we would move where we are living is not safe, we are powerless.
Because of its geography, Saint-Louis is known as the Venice of Africa, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, once the capital of Senegal now facing
attrition due to the global climate emergency, as erosion takes its toll on the historic buildings, and the people dwelling in them.
(on camera): Fishing is a profession that spans generations here in Saint- Louis but thousands of fishermen and their families have already been displaced by global warming, as rising sea levels have destroyed many
houses here on the coastline.
(voice-over): There is nothing left of where fishermen (INAUDIBLE) house once stood. He says many who lost their homes at the come climate refugees.
There are a lot of young people who have already fled to Spain because they are homeless, he says. They have lost their jobs, many of them are going.
Others have had to move to this tent camp miles away from the ocean, living in poverty with little hope for improvement. Rising sea levels are a threat
to coastal areas around the world, already causing an increase in severe flash flooding and storm surges like in the New York and New Jersey area
after Hurricane Ida in September.
The world needs to act fast or risk having to completely abandon some coastal regions in the future, especially in the U.S., says climate
scientist Anders Levermann.
ANDERS LEVERMANN, POTSDAM INSTITUTE FOR CLIMATE IMPACT RESEARCH: The entire East Coast of the U.S. because of changes in the ocean currents, sea level
is rising twice as fast the East Coast of the U.S. then globally.
PLEITGEN: What is it dangerous projection for the world is already grim reality here in Senegal, where the ocean that has defined the lives in this
community for so long is now drifting them into an uncertain future.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PLEITGEN: And the future really is uncertain for the people who live here, especially on the coastline in Saint-Louis, it's really unclear whether in
the long run, this city is going to be viable or remain viable for humans to live here. But I just want to take you on a quick walk here to the side
that because you can really see when we pan this way, the scale of the problem that's going on here, you can see all of this is fishing boats.
But you can also see that all the buildings here along this coastline have been affected, and many of them partially destroyed by those rising sea
levels. And by those storm surges. Now some of the numbers that we've been getting is more than 3000 fishermen and their families have been displaced
by all this. But even the most tragic thing that people here are telling us, they say a lot of people here are taking their boats and quite frankly,
trying to go somewhere else.
Becoming climate refugees trying to go to places like Europe and from -- there's no real numbers for it. But some of the things that we've heard
from people is that many of those who try it, don't make it and die along the way, Becky.
ANDERSON: Fred Pleitgen is in Senegal. Fred, thank you. We'll get you up to speed folks on some of the other stories that are on our radar right now.
And the U.S. Secretary of State says he is alarmed by reports that Tigrayan rebels in Ethiopia have taken over two key towns outside the Tigray region.
Antony Blinken warning that continued fighting will prolong the dire humanitarian crisis in the northern part of that country.
The year-long war has killed thousands of people and forced millions to flee their homes. Well, a diplomatic dispute over Yemen between Lebanon and
Gulf States is getting worse at issue are comments by Lebanon's inflammation Minister criticizing Saudi Arabia for its involvement in the
war in Yemen. Well now the UAE is asking all of its citizens in Lebanon to return home in support of the Saudis.
Sudan's Prime Minister says he will never willingly stepped down. Abdalla Hamdok remains under house arrest a week after Sudan's military leaders
staged a coup. The military is allowing international local mediators to visit the Prime Minister and -- amid intense pressure for his release.
Japan's ruling coalition has won the general election and will maintain its majority that will allow Japan's newly elected Prime Minister Fumio Kishida
to remain in power he has promised to implement what he calls new capitalism and to raise salaries for the middle classes. You're watching
CONNECT THE WORLD live for you tonight from the expo here in Dubai. More after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:42:10]
ANDERSON: What is considered the most important get together on climate change in years is now underway in Scotland. The COP26 Summit aims to get
the world to contain global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels and take steps to secure global net zero emissions by
mid-century. Well, the U.N. Secretary General with a blunt warning that action must be taken now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONIO GUTERRES, U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL: We face a stark choice, either we stop it or it stops us. And it's time to say enough. Enough of brutalizing
biodiversity, enough of killing ourselves with carbon. Enough of treating nature like a toilet. Enough of burning and drilling and mining our way
deeper. We are digging our own graves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: In our fifth treating nature as a toilet, there is no better person to speak to those sorts of comments. And CNN's Chief Climate
Correspondent Bill Weir who joins me now from Glasgow. And we've had some pretty ominous warnings, it has to be said from those leaders who are key
or have been key to setting up this meeting. The question is what will be achieved? There are some key goals containing global warming to 1.5 degrees
Celsius.
Getting wealthy nations to pony up some $100 billion a year to fight this climate crisis. And taking these steps to secure global net zero emissions
by mid-century. Do you see evidence, Bill, at this point that those goals will be achieved?
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: No, there's no evidence really for anybody to hang on to so far. But all we can hope is that our better
common sense will prevail in these really, really trying times to put this one in perspective. And we can't be too cynical about this because
otherwise, what's the point? Let me show you a graphic of a lot of talk, a lot of promises and only rising temperatures.
World leaders started talking about this in the late 70s at the world climate conference, and then Rio in '92 and then Kyoto in '97. Copenhagen,
Paris, of course in 2015. And all that time you can see the hockey stick graph of both global temperatures now 1.3 degrees over norms before the
Industrial Revolution and then the density of heat trapping pollution in the atmosphere.
But you have to hold on to hope, Becky, that maybe this is the moment because so much of the mounting damage is now so evident.
[10:45:05]
WEIR: In the United States so far this year $100 billion in losses just to these storms, and we got two months to go. And the ambitions and the
promises are not close to that price tag. The cost of doing nothing will be stratospherically higher. But there are 30,000 people gathering across the
River Clyde here.
Presidents and prime ministers and finance and environmental ministers and NGOs and corporations, eager to let us all know that they care about a
livable planet, and the same brilliant minds that made this problem and extended lifespans with the Industrial Revolution. Now must, must, must fix
it.
ANDERSON: Well, you know, and it's going to be interesting to work out with the carbon footprint of those 30,000 who are gathered in Glasgow actually
is in the carbon footprint of this entire meeting. It goes on, of course, for 12 days. There are notable absentees, China, Russia. Certainly the
leaders of those two carbon emitters will not be present. I think it's important at this stage, because our viewers now will have heard weeks and
weeks, months and months of conversation about what needs to be done, what can be achieved in Glasgow.
So what's important at this point that our viewers should know? What are the key opportunities here? And what should we watch for this point?
WEIR: Well, what's interesting, Becky, is sort of the moral responsibility of the rich -- richer countries is tied directly to the practical
applications of the goals that everybody is shooting for. I'll give you an example. The dirtiest fuel by far is coal. And in fact, Boris Johnson hoped
that this conference would relegate coal to history. A fuel of the Charles Dickens era. We can move past it now. India burns more coal than the United
States and the E.U. combined.
They're among the countries looking to the G20 and the richer nations to pony up the promised $100 billion a year for those developing nations to
clean up their acts and brace for the future. Until they get that they say there's no real incentive. Modi is saying to sign anything here. So by
keeping good on the promise to support those developing nations, you'll get some concessions. Meanwhile, China, as you said, notably absent right now.
They put more coal capacity online and 2023 times more than the rest of the world combined. And what came out of the G20 Summit in Rome that has so
many environmentalists, and just, you know, sentient life forms concerned is they admitted that this is an existential threat. And they are committed
to significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions, taking into account national circumstances.
And that's the big butt. And that's the reason all of these conferences going back three decades have not led to anything. There's always a
national circumstance in which a leader can say we need to drill more, we need to mine more, we need to burn more just to keep our people alive. And
that's the -- that's the sticking point right now. The United States Joe Biden is here with a huge contingent.
He's bringing a dozen members of his cabinet, former President Obama is joining as well, Al Gore is on the ground here as well. They have to earn
the trust of the rest of the world after waffling pendulum and back and forth between Republican administrations, now's the moment they have to
convince people the U.S. is in this to stay.
ANDERSON: And they of course, have a domestic audience, a domestic economy and domestic efforts to ensure that not all of these commitments will be
good, as you rightly point out do other countries. The question is can everybody come together for the -- for the good of the entire world? And
that is the 80 percent of the world of course which is damaged by the 20 percent who are meant as much as they do. Thank you.
You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. Still ahead (INAUDIBLE) among several countries in this region embroiled in a diplomatic route with Lebanon, over
comments by this minister. What the UAE is telling its citizens in Lebanon to do next. That is after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:51:53]
ANDERSON: We are waiting to hear from the U.S. President Joe Biden any minute now. He will be speaking at the COP26 conference in Glasgow. That of
course, is his big climate conference filled as the last chance. There will be those skeptics who say these climate conference. Built as the last
chance there will be those skeptics who say this climate conference is a -- been built as the chance for years and years and years.
But certainly there has been much momentum towards this. One British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, who is co-hosting this summit with the U.N. says
this is a decisive moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GUTERRES: Enough of killing ourselves with carbon. Enough of treating nature like a toilet. Enough of burning and drilling and mining our way
deeper. We are digging our own graves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Do you have the Boris Johnson soundbite? Obviously wasn't. That obviously wasn't Boris Johnson. That was the U.N. Secretary General. We are
now waiting to hear from Joe Biden. Big day for him, a hot off the flight, of course from G20 where Nic Robertson is still standing by. Nic, you're in
Rome and it's bringing that Bill Weir who is in Glasgow as we await that Joe Biden speech in Glasgow. Just remind us what happened in Rome.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: In Rome, a lot of small things achieved on the margins of the summit. But the core issues around
climate change were only moderately achieved, if you will. The hope that there would be an agreement for Net Zero globally set for a hard 2050. Now
President Biden said that because President Xi and President Putin weren't here in person, it was impossible to impress upon them.
Essentially, the importance of sticking with that hard data and for that, for that and other reasons and other countries as well who fell by the
wayside on that commitment, only 12 of the 20 nations here signed up to the 2050 carbon zero Net Zero. So what they were left with at the COP -- at the
G20 rather, was very simply Net Zero to be achieved somewhere before 2016. So that's a slippage of essentially 10 years.
And there was also the issue of coal as well, there was a -- there was a hope that there could be a scaling back of the amount of coal used in
generating electricity, but that only was agreed that they would stop internet financing internationally. Coal fired power stations which means
countries like the United States or the United Kingdom can continue under this agreement, can continue to run coal fired electricity generating power
stations.
It's only those that are financed overseas that can't be -- that were agreed that the finance -- financing for that would stop at the end of the
year. So these things have fallen short and it was really hoped that the G20 would be a springboard for a successful COP26.
[16:55:09]
ROBERTSON: And I think that's why expectations have been played down. And there's been disappointment all around.
ANDERSON: Yes. I mean, G20, revealing just how far apart nations are on cutting carbon emissions. Joe Biden about to get to the stage. So we'll
just hold you guys here as we see Joe Biden walk up. And quite frankly, to both of you and we'll just listen to Joe Biden before I get back to you.
This is an opportunity, of course for Joe Biden to reassert U.S. leadership in saving the planet. Let's serve a listening to the U.S. President.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- profound questions before us. It's simple. Will we act? Will we do what is necessary? Will we seize the
enormous opportunity to before us or your will to condemn future generations to suffer? This is the decade that will determine the answer,
this decade. The science is clear. We only have a brief window left before us to raise your ambitions and to raise to meet the task that's rapidly
narrowing.
This is a decisive decade in which we have an opportunity to prove ourselves. We can keep the goal of limiting global warming to just 1.5
degrees Celsius within our reach if we come together. If we commit to doing our part of each of our nations with determination and with ambition.
That's what COp26 is all about. Glasgow must be the kickoff of a decade -- a decade of ambition and innovation to preserve our shared future.
Climate change is already ravaging the world. We've heard from many speakers. It's not hypothetical. It's not a hypothetical threat. It's
destroying people's lives and livelihoods. And doing it every single day is costing our nation's trillions of dollars. Record heat and drought, fueling
more widespread and more intense wildfires. In some places in crop failures and others. Record flooding and what used to be a once in a century storms
are now happening every few years.
And the past few months, the United States has experienced all of this, and every region in the world can tell similar stories. And in an age where
this pandemic has made so painfully clear that no nation can wall itself off from borderless threats. We know that none of us can escape the worse
that yet to come if we fail to seize this moment. But ladies and gentlemen, within the growing catastrophe, I believe there's an incredible
opportunity.
Not just for the United States, but for all of us. We're standing at an inflection point in world history. We have the ability to invest in
ourselves and build an equitable, clean energy future, and in the process, create millions of good paying jobs and opportunities around the world.
Cleaner air for our children. We're bountiful oceans, healthier forest and eco systems for our planet. We can create an environment that raises a
standard of living around the world.
And this is a moral imperative. But it's also an economic imperative. If we feel greater growth, new jobs, better opportunities for all our people. And
as we see current volatility in energy prices rather than cast it as a reason to back off our clean energy goals, we must view it as a call to
action. Higher energy prices only reinforce the urgent need to diversify sources, double down on clean energy development and adapt promising new
clean energy technologies.
So we cannot only, you know, remain overly reliant on one source of power to power our economies and our communities. It's in the self-interest of
every single nation. And this is a chance in my view to make a generational investment in our economic resilience and on our workers and our
communities throughout the world. That's what we're going to do in the United States.
My Build Back Better framework will make historic investments in clean energy. The most significant investment to deal with the climate crisis
that any advanced nation has made ever. We're going to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by well over gigaton by 2030 while making it more affordable
for consumers to save on their own energy bills.
[11:00:08]
BIDEN: With tax credits for things like --
END
END
