John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Ruslan Edelgeriyev, issued the joint statement after Mr Kerry's trip to Russia. AFP
John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Ruslan Edelgeriyev, issued the joint statement after Mr Kerry's trip to Russia. AFP
John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Ruslan Edelgeriyev, issued the joint statement after Mr Kerry's trip to Russia. AFP
John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Ruslan Edelgeriyev, issued the joint statement after Mr Kerry's trip to Russia. AFP

US and Russia co-ordinate before UN climate conference


Bryant Harris
  • English
  • Arabic

US climate envoy John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Ruslan Edelgeriyev, on Thursday agreed to coordinate on scaling back carbon emissions before the UN climate conference in the UK in November.

Following Mr Kerry’s trip to Russia, the two climate envoys issued a joint statement noting that they both “recognise the need to address the increasing climate challenge with seriousness and urgency”.

The joint statement provided no details on specific commitments from either side but represented the latest salvo in US President Joe Biden’s bid to secure robust commitments to reduce carbon emissions from US allies and adversaries alike before the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow.

“They are committed to the robust implementation of the Paris Agreement and its temperature goals, including through significant efforts in this decade and the global pursuit of net-zero emissions, recognising the importance of enhancing carbon sequestration by forests and other ecosystems,” the joint statement noted.

“They will work together and with others to actively promote a successful Cop26 in Glasgow, UK, and a G20 that contributes to such success. In addition, they will co-operate on climate-related issues in the Arctic.”

Mr Biden re-entered the 2016 Paris climate accords, which former president Donald Trump withdrew from, shortly after taking office this year. He also convened a virtual climate summit at the White House in April with 40 world leaders where he vowed that the US would cut carbon emissions by at least 50 per cent by 2030.

However, the White House has provided few specifics on how it will reach that goal, particularly with much of Mr Biden’s legislative proposals to boost the green energy sector tied up in Congress amid Republican opposition.

Mr Kerry has said the Biden administration believes it can meet the president’s ambitious target by executive order and through collaboration with the private sector.

In the joint statement, Mr Kerry and Mr Edelgeriyev said that the US and Russia “also intend to work together bilaterally on a range of climate-related issues".

“Topics will include, among others, satellite monitoring of emissions and removals of greenhouse gases; forests and agriculture‎; climate and the Arctic, including black carbon; reducing emissions from non-CO2 gases, including methane; enhanced nationally determined contributions and long-term strategies under the Paris Agreement; energy efficiency; climate finance; nature-based solutions; and implementation of joint climate projects.”

LA LIGA FIXTURES

Friday

Granada v Real Betis (9.30pm)

Valencia v Levante (midnight)

Saturday

Espanyol v Alaves (4pm)

Celta Vigo v Villarreal (7pm)

Leganes v Real Valladolid (9.30pm)

Mallorca v Barcelona (midnight)

Sunday

Atletic Bilbao v Atletico Madrid (4pm)

Real Madrid v Eibar (9.30pm)

Real Sociedad v Osasuna (midnight)

Dust and sand storms compared

Sand storm

  • Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
  • Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
  • Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
  • Travel distance: Limited 
  • Source: Open desert areas with strong winds

Dust storm

  • Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
  • Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
  • Duration: Can linger for days
  • Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
  • Source: Can be carried from distant regions
The National's picks

4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young

Richard Jewell

Director: Clint Eastwood

Stars: Paul Walter Hauser, Sam Rockwell, Brandon Stanley

Two-and-a-half out of five stars 

The Sand Castle

Director: Matty Brown

Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea

Rating: 2.5/5

DUBAI WORLD CUP CARNIVAL CARD

6.30pm Handicap US$135,000 (Turf) 2,410m

7.05pm UAE 1000 Guineas Listed $250,000 (Dirt) 1,600m

7.40pm Dubai Dash Listed $175,000 (T) 1,000m

8.15pm Al Bastakiya Trial Conditions $100,000 (D) 1.900m

8.50pm Al Fahidi Fort Group Two $250,000 (T) 1,400m

9.25pm Handicap $135,000 (D) 2,000m

 

The National selections

6.30pm: Gifts Of Gold

7.05pm Final Song

7.40pm Equilateral

8.15pm Dark Of Night

8.50pm Mythical Magic

9.25pm Franz Kafka

Specs

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THE BIO

Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979

Education: UAE University, Al Ain

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Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.

The candidates

Dr Ayham Ammora, scientist and business executive

Ali Azeem, business leader

Tony Booth, professor of education

Lord Browne, former BP chief executive

Dr Mohamed El-Erian, economist

Professor Wyn Evans, astrophysicist

Dr Mark Mann, scientist

Gina MIller, anti-Brexit campaigner

Lord Smith, former Cabinet minister

Sandi Toksvig, broadcaster

 

Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

Updated: July 15, 2021, 5:52 PM`