euronews icons loading As part of his ambitious climate strategy, Biden is hosting a global summit featuring 40 world leaders. - Copyright AP Photo By Hope Talbot Updated: 19/04/2021 - 16:53
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The Leaders Summit on Climate is due to take place this week with major world leaders in attendance. But what exactly is the event and why is it happening now?
After notably rejecting Donald Trump’s approach to environmental policy, US President Joe Biden is hoping to once again show his commitment to climate reform on the world stage in this week’s summit.
Shortly after
recommitting the United States to the Paris Agreement, Biden was quick to announce his plans to convene a leaders summit to further discuss action on the climate crisis.
The United States and China, the world’s two biggest carbon polluters, agreed to cooperate to curb climate change with urgency, just days before President Joe Biden hosts a virtual summit of world leaders to discuss the issue.
The agreement was reached by U.S. special envoy for climate John Kerry and his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua during two days of talks in Shanghai last week, according to a joint statement.
The two countries “are committed to cooperating with each other and with other countries to tackle the climate crisis, which must be addressed with the seriousness and urgency that it demands,” the statement said.
Is planting trees really an effective weapon to fight climate change? We met experts in northern Italy to hear their views in our latest episode of Climate Now. Watch the report in the player above.
But before we dive into the woods, let s have a quick look at the latest data for February from the Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Globally, February wasn t as warm as it has been for the past five years. Temperatures were under 0.1 degrees Celsius above the new 1991-2020 average.
However, it was an extraordinary month for extreme temperature changes. Across central and southern parts of the United States, it was much colder than average, with Arctic weather stretching right down into Texas. It was also much colder than average in Siberia and then warmer in Greenland.
This year, Sunniva Sorby and Hilde Fålun Strøm became the first women to overwinter in the remote Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard without men. 140 kilometres away from their nearest neighbours, the pair spent the entirety of winter and several months beyond in a 20 square meter cabin without running water or electricity.
After setting off in September of last year, the original plan was for them to return home in May - having spent nine months in the Arctic. But as it became clear how serious the COVID-19 pandemic was turning out to be, things rapidly changed. Their only updates from the chaos of the outside world came via their social media team.