Around 100 nations pledge to slash methane emissions on day 2 of COP26

US President Joe Biden criticized China and Russia for not doing more to tackle the climate crisis during a news conference at the COP26 climate summit. 

“I think it's been a big mistake, quite frankly, for China, links back to China not showing up,” Biden said in response to a question from CNN’s Phil Mattingly. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin both did not attend the United Nations climate summit in Glasgow, which is widely seen as the most important international climate talks in years. 

The President said: “We showed up, and by showing up we've had a profound impact on the way I think the rest of the world is looking at the United States and its leadership role.”

Speaking more broadly about relations with China, Biden said he was not worried about armed conflict occurring. He said he has made it clear to the Chinese President in his hours of conversation with him that “this is competition, it does not have to be conflict.” 

“I’m not looking for, I don't anticipate there will be a need for, to be, there be physical conflict,” Biden said.

A reporter asked President Joe Biden why he thinks the US and its lawmakers should get behind spending on climate action when other nations, such as China and Russia, won't.

CBS Reporter Nancy Cordes asked:

"Some of the commitments you made here won't happen unless Congress passes future legislation. How do you convince Republicans and even some Democrats to get behind more spending if they look at this conference and say, 'China isn't meeting these global goals. Russia doesn't intend to meet these global goals. India doesn't plan to, why should we?'" 

Biden answered:

"Because we want to be able to breathe. And we want to be able to lead the world."

He added:

Some background: Russia's Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping did not attend the COP26 summit in Glasgow, Scotland.

US President Biden said acting on the climate crisis is "not just a moral imperative, it's an economic imperative as well."

"Investing in our clean energy future is an enormous opportunity, enormous opportunity for every country to create good paying jobs and spur a broad-based economic recovery," he said in remarks at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland.

Biden also touted his economic agenda as Democrats back in the US continue to negotiate over specifics.

"When I think of climate crisis, I think of jobs. And that's what the Build Back Better framework will do for the American people. It's going to bring historic investment in clean energy, addressing the climate crisis. It's going to cut greenhouse gas emissions by well over a gigaton by 2030. It's going to save consumers money on their energy bills and with tax credits or things like installing solar panels and weatherization of their homes. It's also going to provide manufacturing credits to make sure the United States is competing in energy markets of the future, like solar panels and wind turbines. It's also going to accelerate electric vehicles and electric school buses and build a nationwide network of 5,000 charging stations to power them," he said.

Biden added:

More than 100 world leaders, representing more than 85% of the planet's forests, agreeing to ending and reversing deforestation and land degradation by 2030 is a "great example of the kind of ambition we need" in action against climate change, US President Joe Biden said Tuesday.

"I can't think of two days where more has been accomplished — dealing with climate — than these two days," he added of the COP26 summit in Glasgow.

In a message to world leaders and key figures present at the summit he said:

"Glasgow must start — and I know you're tired of hearing me say it but — a decisive decade of action, so we can keep the limit of 1.5 degrees within the reach of us and the rest of the world. We have to keep accelerating our progress."

The President of Malawi criticized wealthy nations that fail to live up to financial pledges to developing countries meant for damage caused by climate change. 

“It just spells out more death and more devastation and more catastrophe around the world, in particular for the least developed nations and the nations of the sea,” Lazarus Chakwera told CNN's Lynda Kinkade from the COP26 Summit on Tuesday.

The issue of whether wealthy industrialized countries should pay for the damage already caused by climate change has been a key point at the COP26 talks in Glasgow, Scotland.

For years, poorer nations have urged for climate reparations, saying they depend on them for their survival.

To date, the financing promised to developing nations under the Paris Agreement is meant to be used to transition their economies and prepare for future climate change as opposed to dealing with the damage already done. 

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson struck an optimistic tone on US policy on climate and on whether the world could trust any American administration on the issue, given the seesawing in the past few years.

"What's changed now is the voters in our countries want change and want us to fix this thing," Johnson said Tuesday.

He added:

The people see climate change as one of their priorities, he told CNN.

"People can see climate change is happening. They can see wildfires and flooding. They can see that something out of the normal weather events is taking place," he said. "And it's moving up their agenda."

Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates and the European Union launched a joint investment deal, aiming to provide up to half the finance needed to create affordable green technologies for Europe, which will also benefit the world, they said.

Gates formally signed the EU-Catalyst partnership on behalf of his company Breakthrough Energy Catalyst at COP26 in Glasgow on Tuesday.

“The European Commission is joining forces with Breakthrough Energy Catalyst and with the European Investment Bank. We will scale up critical green technologies and create markets for them,” said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who shared the stage with Gates and Werner Hoyer, President of the European Investment Bank.

The deal aims to mobilize up to $1 billion between 2022 and 2026 in financing projects in the hydrogen, aviation, energy storage and air capture industries. Each euro of public funds is expected to leverage three euros of private funds, according to the EU Commission. 

The launch comes after it was revealed that the delivery of $100 billion per year in climate finance, which rich countries promised developing countries under the Paris Agreement, would be delayed until 2023.

But private sector investment is a critical part of the solution, according to all three signatories of the EU-Catalyst partnership.

“The total green premium right now would be about five trillion per year,” said Gates.

“Unless we reduce the cost of green products even at $100 billion — which is fair to say we need to push aggressively to achieve that — would only be less than 2% of what it would cost to subsidize these green activities for the developing countries. So, the innovation side is going to bear a lot of the burden of making it affordable for the world to do these things.”

President of the European Investment Bank Werner Hoyer added: “It is quite obvious that the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) and the climate objective of Paris will not be achievable with public money only. The development of these new technologies cannot wait 15 or 20 years. I don't blame private banks for instance that they do not finance this, because it is too risky for them.”

He went on to say that is why support is needed at the beginning from the EU Commission, member states and supporters like Bill Gates to accelerate the development of green technology.

President Joe Biden and Britain's Prince Charles met on Tuesday at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, with the two leaders using the encounter to discuss "the importance of global cooperation in tackling climate change," a senior administration official told CNN. 

The official said that Biden and Prince Charles met on the sidelines of the conference, which – now in its second day – has featured nearly 120 world leaders addressing the climate crisis and how to address it. 

"They underlined the need for ambitious commitments and concrete actions among partners worldwide and discussed Prince Charles' initiatives to engage the private sector on sustainability," the official said of the meeting.  

The meeting comes as leaders gathered in Glasgow, including Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, to commit to changes in their countries to slow down and mitigate the effects of climate change. Biden on Tuesday targeted planet-warming methane emissions, announcing strong new US regulations and launching a Global Methane Pledge, in partnership with the European Union, that has been signed by around 100 countries. 

For his part, Prince Charles on Monday implored countries to work with industries to create solutions to climate change. 

"My plea today is for countries to come together to create the environment that enables every sector of industry to take the action required. We know this will take trillions, not billions, of dollars," he said.

He also charged that climate change and loss of biodiversity pose a great threat and put the world on "war-like footing." 

Boris Johnson struggled to explain his decision not to wear a mask while sitting next to 95-year-old environmentalist David Attenborough as he tried to put a positive spin on this week's COP26 climate summit.

"I've been wearing masks in confined spaces with people I don't normally talk to ... it's up to people to take a judgment whether they're at a reasonable distance from someone ... that's the approach we take," he said in an exclusive interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour.

The British Prime Minister struck a somber tone on the state of the climate emergency, saying "I think you've got to be gloom and doom until we fix this thing."

Johnson hailed some of the early agreements reached at the summit, including a pact to reduce deforestation, but said the world had to be humbled in the face of the "huge" climate crisis. He also said his government was committing to reducing its reliance on coal, despite the prospect of a controversial new mine opening in northwest England.

"I don't want more coal, and our government doesn't want more coal. We'll do what we're legally able to do," Johnson said.

Read more from his interview with CNN here.