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      Trump Administration Is Planting Loyalists in Biden Transition Meetings

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Presidential TransitionliveLatest UpdatesFormal Transition BeginsBiden’s CabinetDefense SecretaryElection ResultsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyTrump Administration Is Planting Loyalists in Biden Transition MeetingsSupporters of the president are monitoring many of the conversations between Biden teams and civil servants, chilling the flow of information.Trump allies have been joining and monitoring transition conversations at the Environmental Protection Agency.Credit…Stefani Reynolds for The New York TimesBy More

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      in UK Politics

      Alok Sharma facing ‘impossible ask’ juggling Cop26 presidency with Brexit and Covid duties, says Amber Rudd

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      Alok Sharma is facing an “impossible ask” juggling his duties as Cop26 president and secretary of state for business, Amber Rudd has said.
      The former home secretary and climate minister said she did not see how Mr Sharma could make the upcoming UN climate talks a “success” while also trying to run the business department at a time when the UK is facing a pandemic and an imminent exit from the EU.
      Speaking at a press briefing alongside Laurent Fabius, the president of Cop21 held in Paris, she said: “When I look at the work that Laurent Fabius did, I don’t think he was trying to run business in the UK in the time of the pandemic, trying to reassure businesses as we leave our largest trading bloc, [and] trying to put together legislation to ensure there isn’t queues at the border.
      “It seems to me an extraordinary ask of Alok Sharma that he can put in the effort, the work, the thought, the corralling of different interests and make Cop a success while doing all those things. I don’t know who thinks that’s possible? It just seems an impossible ask.”
      She added: “I recognise the absurdity of potentially changing COP president, but if not now, when?”
      The UK is due to host the next round of UN climate talks, known as Cop26, next year in Glasgow. The talks will be pivotal for raising ambition on tackling the climate crisis, experts say.
      Mr Sharma was appointed president of the talks in February after the former president-to-be Claire O’Neill was axed from the role.  Yesterday, Ms O’Neill told a parliamentary committee that Boris Johnson’s government had “no sense” of the seriousness of hosting the UN climate talks while she was still in her post.“There just did not seem to be any sense of what we were actually doing,” Ms O’Neill told an evidence hearing held by the business, energy and industrial strategy (Beis) committee.
      “This is a deadly serious diplomatic moment on which the future trajectory of CO2 depends. And I don’t think that sense of gravitas had percolated through.”
      She added that she had been advised to “sue for unfair dismissal” and for “gender bias” due to there being “few women” involved in the running of Cop26.
      Speaking today, Ms Rudd said: “I thought that Claire O’Neill was an inspired choice as president for Cop, and I was very sad when she resigned, or fell under the destructive gaze of Dominic Cummings, shall we say, and left.”
      She added that the cut to overseas aid announced in the chancellor’s recent spending review suggested that the government was not taking its role as host of Cop26 “seriously enough”.“A country that really understood the seriousness and the honour and the responsibility of hosting Cop26 next year would not be cutting its international aid right now,” she said.
      “As a former secretary of state, when you need additional money for something that is this government’s priority, in this case Cop26 … being able to have access to the overseas development aid money … was a huge help to be able to deliver on commitments to help other countries industrialise.”Her comments come a day after a senior Conservative politician told BBC News that somebody with a bigger profile was needed to successfully lead the climate talks.Tobias Ellwood, the former Foreign Office minister who chairs the Commons defence committee, told BBC News: “It’s got to be the likes of David Cameron, William Hague, somebody of that order that is familiar with the international scene.”Ms Rudd ruled herself out of taking up the role at today’s press briefing, which was organised by the non-profit Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit.The briefing on Cop26 and the upcoming Climate Action Summit on 12 December also included comments from Prof Saleemul Huq, director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) and Adair Turner, senior fellow at the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET).A government spokesperson said on Tuesday: “As Cop26 President, Alok Sharma is coordinating efforts to drive action on climate change across the globe ahead of the UK hosting the Cop26 climate conference next year. This includes engaging directly with over 40 governments as well as attending dozens of major international events virtually to bring the world together to focus on tackling climate change.“The world is responding to the immediate and acute challenges posed by coronavirus, but we recognise that the climate crisis has not taken time off. The UK, along with the UN and France, will host the Climate Ambition Summit later this month to give countries a platform to make commitments.”  More

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      in UK Politics

      Climate crisis: Boris Johnson’s government had ‘no sense of what we were doing’, says ousted Cop president

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      Boris Johnson’s government had “no sense” of how seriously it needed to take hosting the upcoming UN climate talks, the former UK Cop president has said.Claire O’Neill, the former energy minister who was axed from the role of Cop president in January, told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday that cabinet ministers had acted “like amateur hour” in the build-up to the talks, which are to be held in Glasgow next year.She said that a former chief adviser to the prime minister had told her that he did not believe Cop26 needed a president – despite it being a UN statutory role.“There just did not seem to be any sense of what we were actually doing,” she told an evidence hearing held by the business, energy and industrial strategy (Beis) committee.
      “This is a deadly serious diplomatic moment on which the future trajectory of CO2 depends. And I don’t think that sense of gravitas had percolated through,” she added. “I like to think it’s starting to now.”
      Ms O’Neill also told the committee that both Mr Johnson and former prime minister Theresa May were “very, very positive about the idea of hosting the Cop”.But “Beis civil servants did not want to host the Cop and neither did the treasury and that took a lot of persuading”, she said. Their reluctance to host the talks was linked to a perception that it would be too difficult for the UK to take the leading role as a “powerful northern country”, she added.The issues of Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic have so far prevented cabinet ministers from devoting the required attention to the upcoming climate talks, Ms O’Neill said.
      “It really is a whole of government effort if we want to deliver something ambitious,” she said.
      “To his credit, the current prime minister does get involved, what I think has been lacking is a sense of this being job number one for the government because, of course, both with Brexit and Covid, there are other extremely important jobs that need to be taken care of.” More

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      Joe Biden announces John Kerry as pick to be first ever US climate envoy – video

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      President-elect Joe Biden seeks to blunt criticism from leftwingers as he formally introduces his first round of cabinet nominations, by emphasising the fight against the climate crisis.
      Biden says that in John Kerry, a former secretary of state and presidential nominee, America will have a full-time climate leader for the first time, someone with ‘a seat at every table around the world’
      Biden emphasises fight against climate crisis as he unveils cabinet picks More

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      in US Politics

      Revealed: Trump officials rush to mine desert haven native tribes consider holy

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      Since January, San Carlos Apache tribal member Wendsler Nosie Sr has been sleeping in a teepee at a campground in south-eastern Arizona’s Oak Flat, a sprawling high desert oasis filled with groves of ancient oaks and towering rock spires.
      It is a protest in defense of “holy ground” where the Apache have prayed and performed ceremonies for centuries.
      A dozen south-western Native American tribes have strong cultural ties to Oak Flat. But the Trump administration, in its waning days, has embarked on a rushed effort to transfer ownership of the area to a mining company with ties to the destruction of an Aboriginal site in Australia, the Guardian has learned.
      “We were in the fourth quarter with two minutes left in the game. And then Trump cheated so now we only have one minute left,” said Nosie, who was a football quarterback in high school. “Everybody has to mobilize now to fight this.” More

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      John Kerry named as Joe Biden's special climate envoy

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      [embedded content]
      John Kerry, the former US secretary of state and Democratic presidential nominee, has been named as a special envoy on the climate crisis under Joe Biden’s incoming administration.
      Biden’s transition team said Kerry would “fight climate change full time” in the role, which for the first time will include a seat on the national security council.
      This elevation shows the president-elect sees the climate crisis as an “urgent national security issue”, the Biden transition team said.
      Kerry tweeted that “America will soon have a government that treats the climate crisis as the urgent national security threat it is.” The former Massachusetts senator, who ran for president in 2004, added that he will work with Biden, US allies and the climate movement to address the “crisis” of global heating.
      As secretary of state, Kerry played a prominent role in the international effort to craft the Paris climate agreement, which commits countries to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in order to avoid disastrous storms, heatwaves, flooding and other looming climate threats.
      Since leaving government in 2017, Kerry has been sharply critical of Donald Trump’s dismantling of climate policies and the decision to remove the US from the Paris agreement. Biden has vowed to re-enter the Paris deal.
      Over the summer, Kerry was part of a climate taskforce the Biden campaign used to develop its carbon-cutting policies.
      The appointment of such a heavyweight political figure to a newly elevated climate position was warmly welcomed by environmentalists.
      “John Kerry’s appointment is an encouraging signal that the US will make the climate emergency a matter of national security, but it’s only a step in what must be a bold new strategy,” said Brett Hartl, director of government affairs at the Center for Biological Diversity.
      “Because Trump spent four years boosting fossil fuels and blocking solutions, the new administration must prove its commitment to drawing down fossil fuels and treating this crisis with the life-and-death urgency that it deserves.”
      Seen as a moderate among climate campaigners, Kerry will probably be tasked with gaining support among Republicans for Biden’s sweeping $2tn plan to drastically cut emissions by generating millions of new jobs in renewable energy and other climate-friendly activities.
      It is unclear how much success he will have if, as anticipated, Republicans remain in control of the Senate. More

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      in US Politics

      Why is Joe Biden considering this man to help fight the climate crisis?

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      It was a deceptively low-key occasion on Capitol Hill: an older man in a dark suit, talking into a TV camera about an energy report.According to his firm’s 362-page analysis, the fastest path to California’s climate goals included continuing to rely on fossil fuels. The analysis was funded by gas companies and groups related to them, but he wasn’t a lobbyist or industry consultant. Quite the opposite, he was the Obama administration’s well-respected energy secretary, Ernest Moniz.“We certainly have to get beyond … the climate deniers,” he said in the April 2019 interview with C-SPAN. “But we also have to get beyond what we think are often completely unrealistic proposals for the pace at which we can decarbonize.” Fighting climate change at the pace needed would require a “broad coalition,” he said – one that included the oil and gas industry.Moniz was wading into a dispute that will define how the new Biden administration tackles the crisis: can oil and gas companies be part of the solution? Or have they proven, with years of disinformation campaigns and efforts to slow climate action, that they will always stand in the way?As the Biden transition team wrestles with this question, it is already facing pressure from activists not to hire more people with fossil fuel ties, like Louisiana congressman Cedric Richmond, who will join Biden’s White House as a top adviser.In Moniz’s case:Moniz is on the board of one of the most polluting power companies in America, the Georgia-based Southern Company.
      His firm Energy Futures Initiative (EFI) conducted research paid for by Southern California Gas (SoCalGas), which a state consumer advocate has since argued should be fined for using customer money to oppose climate progress.
      Moniz presented the results at an event sponsored by Stanford University’s Natural Gas Initiative, which SoCalGas and other fossil fuel companies help fund as affiliate members. The initiative offers corporate members access to research “from inception to outcome”.
      EFI also partnered with Stanford researchers on a report that explored opportunities to capture climate emissions from fossil fuel operations. One of the funders was the industry group the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative.
      EFI’s advisory board is chaired by the former chief executive of British oil company BP, although it also includes distinguished climate experts and environmentalists.
      EFI’s California analysis neatly aligned with what SoCalGas had been arguing as the state tightened its climate goals. It found that gas power plants with technologies to capture their emissions would reduce climate pollution more than any other option, including renewable power. It suggested an all-of-the-above approach.While gas has helped the US cut its planet-heating emissions by replacing dirtier coal, it remains a major climate polluter that is linked with significant health problems.Collin Rees, a senior campaigner for Oil Change International said Moniz’s links to fossil fuels aren’t “a blip on his resume”.“It is his entire professional career for the last couple decades, which is deeply concerning,” Rees said. More

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      G20 leaders pledge to distribute Covid vaccines fairly around world

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      G20 leaders meeting remotely pledged on Sunday to “spare no effort” to ensure the fair distribution of coronavirus vaccines worldwide, but offered no specific new funding to meet that goal. The virtual summit hosted by Saudi Arabia was an awkward swan song for Donald Trump, who skipped some sessions on Saturday to play golf, paid little attention to other leaders’ speeches and claimed the Paris climate agreement was designed not to save the planet but to the kill the US economy.Joe Biden has promised to rejoin the accord on day one of his presidency, giving other world leaders hope that the UN climate change conference at the end of next year will see more ambitious pledges, including from China, to cut carbon emissions by 2050.Trump’s isolationist diplomacy has allowed China to escape some scrutiny both on its climate and debt forgiveness measures. “To protect American workers, I withdrew the country from the unjust Paris agreement,” Trump told the G20. “I refuse to surrender millions of American jobs and send trillions of American dollars to the world’s worst polluters and environmental offenders, and that’s what would have happened.”The bulk of the summit focused on ensuring that the coronavirus vaccines expected to hit the market imminently are available for distribution at affordable prices in poorer countries.The EU and the UN say there is a £4.5bn funding shortfall this year that the G20 nations should fill. Countries have so far invested $10bn in the Access to Covid-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator and its vaccine pillar, the Covax Facility. The two schemes are designed to ensure the vaccines do not remain the preserve of the wealthiest economies.The UN secretary general, António Guterres, said: “The recent breakthroughs on Covid-19 vaccines offer a ray of hope. But that ray of hope needs to reach everyone. That means ensuring that vaccines are treated as a global public good, a people’s vaccine accessible and affordable to everyone, everywhere,” he said.“This is not a ‘do-good’ exercise. It is the only way to stop the pandemic dead in its tracks. Solidarity is indeed survival.”The final G20 communique simply said: “We have mobilised resources to address the immediate financing needs in global health to support the research, development, manufacturing and distribution of safe and effective Covid-19 diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines.“We will spare no effort to ensure their affordable and equitable access for all people, consistent with members’ commitments to incentivise innovation.” It gave no supporting evidence or statistics.In a sign of the competition for access to vaccines and national prestige, Russia said its Sputnik V would be much cheaper than those offered by Pfizer and Moderna. More