Asia Pacific Report newsdesk
A Chinese official characterised the US return to the international climate scene, not unfairly, as a “truant getting back to class”, reports Climate Change News.
Joe Biden just about scraped a pass with his first assignment this week, and inspired varying degrees of improvement from his slacker pals Japan, Canada and South Korea.
China may have a strong attendance record but will not win any school prizes for Xi Jinping’s long overdue acknowledgment that phasing out coal is essential to climate action.
- READ MORE: Japan, Canada and South Korea promise deeper emission cuts
- Marshalls gets Pacific voice heard at climate summit
- Can Biden forge a new social contract for the climate? – Analysis by Kumi Naidoo
UK is the class swot, doing its homework with the Climate Change Committee breathing down its neck.
It is a status Boris Johnson appears uncomfortable with, casually insulting those who actually care about the environment as “bunny huggers”, to general bemusement.
You get the sense he would rather be sharing a cigarette with Scott Morrison behind the bike shed.
To stretch the metaphor, Greta Thunberg is the headteacher poking her head round the door to say they’ve all let the school down.
Except there is no authority dispensing discipline, just peer pressure.
The lone Pacific voice, Marshall Islands President David Kabua, appealed for help for the region.
Climate Change News live blogged all the opening speeches and US climate finance pledge.
