AFP UK

On a Brooklyn street, Laurentino Marin doesn’t stop to admire the Halloween decorations. Like every morning, the Mexican is busy filling a shopping cart with used cans and plastic bottles, which he will exchange for a few dollars.

Marin, who is 80, is one of New York’s estimated 10,000 “canners,” mostly older migrants from Latin America and China who scrape a living sorting and recycling plastics and aluminum. 

Frail and stooped over, Marin stops in front of the stairs of a typical brownstone house that dots this neighborhood, lifts the lids of the trash cans and plunges his gloved hands into them.

He also searches through plastic packaging filled with garbage that sit on the sidewalk, awaiting collection from the city’s sanitation department.

Large see-through bags hang from his trolley, already full to the brim with a multicolored assortment of soda and beer cans.

“I’m looking for cans to survive,” the wrinkled-faced Marin, originally from Oaxaca, says in Spanish. 

“I don’t receive help, there is no work, so you have to fight,” he adds. 

Marin does not have an employer. He exchanges his cans and bottles in one of the city’s private recycling centers. For each one he gets a five-cent coin.

On an average day, he makes between $30 and $40, enough to supplement his daughter’s income from a laundromat so they can make their $1,800 monthly rent.

The five-cent sum was enshrined in a 1982 New York state law known as the “Bottle Bill” that was passed to encourage consumers to recycle. It hasn’t changed in almost 40 years.

“It had a really good impact of reducing litter across the state, especially in New York City,” said Judith Enck, founder of the anti-pollution movement, Beyond Plastics, which campaigned at the time for the law.

Enck now wants to see the amount doubled to ten cents.

“We didn’t realize that this would become a major source of income for many families, as it has,” she told AFP.

The state government says the bill facilitated the recycling of 5.5 billion pieces of plastic, glass and aluminum containers throughout New York in 2020 alone, more than half the 8.6 billion items sold. 

The canners are a key part of that effort but they are unofficial workers, lacking the benefits and health insurance that would come with a recognized job.

They symbolize New York’s massive wealth inequality, which Eric Adams, all but certain to be elected the city’s next mayor Tuesday, has pledged to address.

“It’s hard. There are people who walk for miles and miles,” explains Josefa Marin, also Mexican.

– Pandemic woes –

“And then there are places where people don’t like to have their waste collected. They throw us away like little animals and don’t understand that we make a living out of it,” she adds.

A derogatory term also exists for them: scavengers, which the canners say fails to recognize their contribution to the environment.

“We are helping to keep the city clean,” says 52-year-old Marin.

“(Without us) all this plastic would go into the sewers and the sea. We are doing something for our planet, for our ecology,” she adds.

Marin regularly takes her collection to Sure We Can, a non-profit recycling center in Brooklyn, which also serves as a community space where canners can come together.

Director Ryan Castalia says the center attracts a diverse crowd.

“We have candidates here who are experiencing homelessness, and who really need every cent that they get here,” he explains between mountains of sorted cans and bottles.

“And we have candidates here who are almost like small business entrepreneurs who really use canning to support their whole families or their livelihoods. They’ll process thousands of cans every day.”

Spring of 2020 was particularly difficult for the canners when the pandemic closed New York City’s bars and restaurants.

But with other jobs drying up, the years-old industry keeps attracting new workers and in turn increasing competition.

“I am in construction,” says Alvaro, a 60-year-old Mexican. “It pays much better but there is no work, so for a year I have been collecting my cans.”

“It doesn’t bring in much. There are too many people on the streets.”

G20 leaders gather for a second day of their Rome summit on Sunday, with all eyes on whether they can deliver a meaningful commitment on climate change ahead of crucial UN talks.

The Group of 20 major economies emit nearly 80 percent of carbon emissions, and a promise of action would provide a much-needed boost to COP26 climate talks starting in Glasgow on Sunday.

But draft communiques suggest they would fall short of a firm pledge to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels or a clear timeline on how to reach net zero emissions.

Experts say meeting the 1.5 degree target — the most ambitious goal in the 2015 Paris climate deal — means slashing global emissions nearly in half by 2030 and to “net-zero” by 2050.

However, some activists expressed hope that in the final hours of wrangling, some progress would be made before nearly 200 leaders, including many of those in Rome, fly to Scotland.

US President Joe Biden is among those pushing for action in Rome, although his own ambitious climate policy is mired by infighting among his own party.

A senior US official said elements of the final G20 statement “are still being negotiated”, adding that the Rome summit was about “helping build momentum” before Glasgow.

The official expressed hope that the summit would commit “to end overseas financing of coal”, offer “positive language” on decarbonising the power sector and see more countries sign up to targets on cutting methane. 

Speaking to the weekly Journal du Dimanche, French President Emmanuel Macron said that the Rome summit had to “do its utmost” to ensure the success of Glasgow, but that “nothing is ever written before a COP”. 

“Let’s not forget that in Paris, in 2015, nothing was decided in advance,” he said.

President Xi Jinping of China — by far the world’s biggest carbon polluter — is absent from the meeting, as is Russia’s Vladimir Putin, although they sent representatives and are logging in via videolink.

Britain’s Prince Charles, a long-time environmentalist, will be making his case for change on Sunday as a special guest of the summit, speaking ahead of final working sessions.

– Going alone ‘not an option’ –

On Saturday, summit host Mario Draghi, the Italian prime minister, urged G20 leaders to act together on climate, but also on improving the delivery of vaccines and on helping the world recover from the devastation of Covid-19.

“From the pandemic, to climate change, to fair and equitable taxation, going it alone is simply not an option,” he told the gathered leaders.

The G20 showed on Saturday they could work together on some issues, green-lighting a deal for a minimum tax of 15 percent on global corporations, as part of a reform plan inked by almost 140 nations.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen hailed it as “historic”, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel — attending her last G20 summit with her likely successor Olaf Scholz — called it a “great success”.

Rome hosted the first in-person G20 summit since the coronavirus pandemic, and chose to do it in the monumental surroundings of EUR, a fascist-era neighbourhood known for its modernist architecture. 

The gathering gave leaders the chance for sideline meetings, including several involving Biden.

He mended fences with France’s Emmanuel Macron after a recent row over a submarine deal, and the pair met with their British and German counterparts to express “grave and growing concern” over Iran’s nuclear activities.

On Sunday, the US president’s agenda includes bilateral talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan covering Syria, Libya and defence deals.

Earlier this month the Turkish leader threatened to expel ambassadors from the United States and nine other Western nations over their support for a jailed Turkish civil society leader.

Leaders of the G20 world’s major economies approved a global minimum tax on the largest companies on Saturday, but were still haggling over the pressing issue of climate change.

In the first major announcement of the two-day G20 summit in Rome, the bloc endorsed a “historic” agreement that would see multinationals subject to a minimum 15 percent tax, said US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who attended the talks. 

The deal would “end the damaging race to the bottom on corporate taxation”, she said in a statement.

The reform plan, already backed by almost 140 countries, seeks to end the practice of big corporates such as Apple and Google parent Alphabet of sheltering profits in low-tax countries. 

But no consensus had yet emerged on a collective commitment on climate change, on the eve of the crucial COP26 conference starting in Glasgow on Sunday.

A senior US official said elements of the final G20 statement “are still being negotiated”, adding that the Rome summit was about “helping build momentum” before the UN climate talks.

At a gala dinner at his lavish Qurinale palace on Saturday evening, Italian President Sergio Mattarella urged leaders to act for the sake of “future generations”. 

“The climate change emergency looms over everything else,” the 80-year-old said, adding: “The eyes of billions of people, of entire peoples, are upon us and the results we will be able to achieve.”

– Stop playing games –

Earlier in the day, thousands of climate protesters, many of them young, gathered in the city centre to demand tougher action.

“We’re asking G20 leaders to stop playing games among themselves and finally listen to the people and act for the climate, as science has been asking for years,” Fridays for Future activist Simone Ficicchia told AFP.

Hosts Italy are pushing the G20 to collectively endorse the UN goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, one of the aspirations of the landmark 2015 Paris climate accords. 

“From the pandemic, to climate change, to fair and equitable taxation, going it alone is simply not an option,” Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi told leaders ahead of the closed-door talks.

But G20 members, many at different stages of economic development, remain at odds over the other major goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.

The stakes are high, as the G20 — which includes China, the US, India, the EU and Russia — accounts for 80 percent of global GDP and nearly 80 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. 

– ‘Grave’ concern on Iran –

The Rome meeting was the opportunity for a flurry of bilateral meetings between G20 leaders, notably involving President Joe Biden, who is hoping to reassert US leadership following the tumultuous Trump years.

He met with his French, British and German counterparts to discuss Iran’s offer to resume discussions on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal, and they expressed their “grave and growing concern” over Tehran’s nuclear programme.

The deal has been floundering since Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump walked out in May 2018 and imposed sweeping sanctions.

On Sunday, the US president’s agenda includes bilateral talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan covering Syria, Libya and defence deals.

Another key topic in Rome is the coronavirus pandemic, with both Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian leader Vladimir Putin raising the issue of the unequal global distribution of vaccines.

Putin blamed disparities on “dishonest competition, protectionism and because some states, especially those of the G20, are not ready for mutual recognition of vaccines and vaccination certificates”, in his speech broadcast on Russian state television.

No new pledges are expected to address the vast gap in Covid-19 vaccine access between rich and poor countries.

But Draghi urged counterparts to “do all we can” to meet a WHO goal of vaccinating 70 percent of the global population by mid-2022.

According to a source following the summit discussions, “all the leaders” agreed to commit to that target. 

Leaders of the G20 world’s major economies approved a global minimum tax on the largest companies on Saturday, but were still haggling over the pressing issue of climate change.

In the first major announcement of the two-day G20 summit in Rome, the bloc endorsed a “historic” agreement that would see multinationals subject to a minimum 15 percent tax, said US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who attended the talks. 

The deal would “end the damaging race to the bottom on corporate taxation”, she said in a statement.

The reform plan, already backed by almost 140 countries, seeks to end the practice of big corporates such as Apple and Google parent Alphabet of sheltering profits in low-tax countries. 

But no consensus had yet emerged on a collective commitment on climate change, on the eve of the crucial COP26 conference starting in Glasgow on Sunday.

Hosts Italy are pushing the G20 to collectively endorse the UN goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, one of the aspirations of the landmark 2015 Paris climate accords. 

“From the pandemic, to climate change, to fair and equitable taxation, going it alone is simply not an option,” Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi told leaders ahead of the closed-door talks.

G20 members, many at different stages of economic development, remain at odds over the other major goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.

“We have a moment now when we can try and take some of the nebulous commitments in Paris, solidify them into hard, fast, commitments to cut emissions, to cut cars and coal and so on,” said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who will host the Glasgow talks.

– ‘Grave’ concern on Iran –

The Rome meeting was the opportunity for a flurry of bilateral meetings between G20 leaders, notably US President Joe Biden, who is hoping to reassert US leadership following the tumultuous Trump years.

After Iran said it would resume discussions with world powers next month on reviving the 2015 nuclear accord, Biden with his French, German and British counterparts expressed their “grave, growing concern” over Tehran’s nuclear programme.

The deal has been floundering since Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump walked out in May 2018 and imposed sweeping sanctions.

Ahead of the day’s talks, European Council president Charles Michel said that agreement on more stringent climate goals would be “difficult to accept” for countries dependent on coal — a veiled reference to China. 

The stakes are high, as the G20 — which includes China, the US, India, the EU and Russia — accounts for 80 percent of global GDP and nearly 80 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. 

As the leaders huddled in Rome’s fascist-era southern neighbourhood of EUR, thousands of climate protesters, many of them young, gathered in the city centre to demand tougher action.

“We’re asking G20 leaders to stop playing games among themselves and finally listen to the people and act for the climate, as science has been asking for years,” Fridays for Future activist Simone Ficicchia told AFP.

– Unequal vaccine access –

Another key topic is the coronavirus pandemic, with both Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian leader Vladimir Putin raising the issue of the unequal global distribution of vaccines, in their comments to the group via video link.

Putin blamed disparities on “dishonest competition, protectionism and because some states, especially those of the G20, are not ready for mutual recognition of vaccines and vaccination certificates”, in his speech broadcast on Russian state television.

No new pledges are expected to address the vast gap in Covid-19 vaccine access between rich and poor countries.

But Draghi urged counterparts to “do all we can” to meet a WHO goal of vaccinating 70 percent of the global population by mid-2022.

According to a source following the summit discussions, “all the leaders” agreed to commit to that target. 

On Friday, Biden met Pope Francis and had a one-on-one with Macron where he admitted that Washington had been “clumsy” in its handling of a submarine deal with Australia and Britain that left Paris out in the cold.

Yet the Democrat faces a credibility test as his signature climate policy — part of a sweeping economic package — is held up amid infighting within his party in Congress.

Leaders of the world’s most advanced nations met Saturday at the G20 summit in Rome hoping to hammer out a way forward on climate change and vaccine equality, with consensus still outstanding on the most pressing global issues. 

In their first in-person gathering since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the relaunch of the global economy will also be front and centre on the two-day agenda, while the bloc is likely to approve a minimum tax rate for the biggest multinationals.

But looming over the talks is pressure to make headway on tackling global warming, before they join a wider group of world leaders gathering for the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, which starts on Sunday.

“From the pandemic, to climate change, to fair and equitable taxation, going it alone is simply not an option,” G20 host and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi told the assembled group of leaders ahead of the closed-door meeting.

G20 heads of state arrived Saturday morning at Rome’s futuristic convention centre known as the “Nuvola” (cloud) in EUR, a southern Rome district built by Benito Mussolini to glorify his fascist regime, posing with frontline health workers in a group photo.

The stakes are high, with United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres warning G20 leaders Friday to show “more ambition and more action” and overcome mistrust in order to advance climate goals.

To be seen is whether the richest countries will agree to the goal of limiting global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the most ambitious target outlined in the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.

– ‘Two debates in parallel’ –

Draghi and other EU leaders had hoped to arrive in Glasgow with a commitment in hand on that key threshold, as well as consensus on a mid-century target to reach carbon neutrality.

“Next hours will be important to be able to solve outstanding issues,” European Council president Charles Michel said ahead of the G20 meeting. 

“There are two debates in parallel: should we increase our common ambition on the G20 level, strengthening the goals on climate neutrality…  And also what are the concrete goals?”

“I understand for some countries dependant on coal it is difficult to accept,” Michel said, a veiled reference to China, the world’s largest polluter and biggest user of coal.

Complicating the task for the G20 are considerable disparities between top world powers, from China, whose latest emissions-cutting plan has disappointed environmentalists, to Brazil, which insists on being paid to protect its share of the Amazon.

While Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin did not travel to Rome, attending only by video link, US President Joe Biden hopes to revive his country’s leadership on the world stage following the tumultuous Trump years.

Yet the Democrat faces a credibility test as his signature climate policy — part of a sweeping economic package — is held up amid infighting within his party in Congress.

Biden met Friday with Pope Francis and then French President Emmanuel Macron, where he admitted that Washington had been “clumsy” in its handling of a submarine deal with Australia and Britain that left Paris out in the cold.

Later Saturday, Biden will meet Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson for talks on Iran, after Tehran said it would resume discussions with world powers next month on reviving the 2015 nuclear accord.

– Taxing corporations –

Security is tight in Rome following violent protests earlier this month over the extension of Italy’s coronavirus pass to workplaces, and a climate march is expected in the city later in the day.

Johnson — the host of the UN climate summit next week — warned that neither the G20 nor the COP26 meetings could stop global warming, and “the most we can hope to do is slow the increase”.

A surer bet for concrete progress at the G20 involves taxation, as the group is expected to endorse the 15 percent minimum international tax rate on multinational companies after nearly 140 countries reached an OECD-brokered deal.

The move seeks to end tax optimisation, in which global corporations — including big US tech firms such as Apple and Google parent Alphabet — shelter profits in countries with low-tax systems.

The OECD says a 15 percent global minimum corporate tax rate could add $150 billion annually to global tax revenues.  

No new pledges are expected to address the vast gap in Covid-19 vaccine access between rich and poor countries.

But Draghi said the G20 should “do all we can” to meet a WHO goal of vaccinating 70 percent of the global population by mid-2022.

NASA and SpaceX have delayed a mission sending four astronauts to the International Space Station to avoid “a large storm system,” the agency said Saturday.

The astronauts of “Crew-3” were due to launch aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft named “Endurance” fixed atop a Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday.

But they will instead aim to launch at 1:10 am (0510 GMT) on Wednesday, which “would have Crew-3 arriving at the space station later the same day about 11 p.m (0300 GMT Thursday),” NASA said in a statement.

They will then carry out “a short handover with the astronauts that flew to the station as part of the agency’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission,” it added.

Should a launch on that date be impossible, “a backup opportunity” is available on November 4, SpaceX said on its website.

The “Crew-3” team will spend six months on the orbital outpost and conduct research to help inform future deep space exploration and benefit life on Earth.

Scientific highlights of the mission include an experiment to grow plants in space without soil or other growth media, and another to build optical fibers in microgravity, which prior research has suggested will be superior in quality to those made on Earth.

The Crew-3 astronauts will also conduct spacewalks to complete the upgrade of the station’s solar panels and will be present for two tourism missions, including Japanese visitors aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft at the end of the year and the Space-X Axiom crew, set for launch in February 2022.

Crew-3 is part of NASA’s multibillion-dollar partnership with SpaceX that it signed after ending the Space Shuttle program in 2011 and aims to restore US capacity to carry out human spaceflight.

As nearly 200 nations gather in Glasgow for UN climate talks starting Sunday all eyes are on Rome, where a G20 summit ending the same day will signal how committed the world’s major economies are to curbing global warming.

Never has climate change figured so prominently on the G20 agenda, and never have leaders hopped straight from a G20 to a climate summit: more than 120 heads of state and government are expected at the outset of COP26 in Scotland.

The G20 — including China, the US, India, the EU and Russia — accounts for 80 percent of global GDP and nearly 80 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. 

“The G20 is going to be very important for COP26,” said Helen Mountford, VP for climate and economics at the World Resources Institute. 

“The idea is to get very clear and strong pressure signals from the leaders on what they plan to do, both individually and collectively,” she told AFP.

Climate negotiators, CEOs, policy wonks and NGOs at the 13-day climate talks will parse the G20 communique for signs of where COP26 might break down or see breakthroughs. 

– Keeping 1.5C in play –

No measure of success at COP26 looms larger than  capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius below pre-industrial levels, a threshold only a few tenths of a degree away. 

“We want to be able to say with credibility coming out of Glasgow that we have kept 1.5C within reach,” UK minister and COP President Alok Sharma told journalists by Zoom this week.

But that means slashing global emissions nearly in half by 2030 and to “net-zero” by 2050.

We are far from the mark. Recently updated carbon-cutting pledges — known as nationally determined contributions, or NDCs — would still see global temperatures rise a “catastrophic” 2.7C, according to the UN.

“We need sharp emissions cuts within this decade,” said Rachel Cleetus, policy director for climate and energy at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

G20 countries that have not stepped up with stronger near-term carbon cutting pledges — Australia, Japan, Brazil, Russia, Saudi Arabia — “are likely to be among those least enthusiastic” about a strongly worded commitment to 1.5C, she told AFP.

– Cool on near-term action –

China — by far the world’s biggest carbon polluter — plans to make its economy carbon neutral before 2060, but has also resisted pressure to deepen near-term ambition.

The cornerstone temperature goal in the 2015 Paris Agreement, China points out, is “well below 2C” — the 1.5C goal was purely aspirational, even if it has since become the de facto target. 

Beijing’s revised climate plan, submitted to the UN Thursday, repeats a long-standing goal of peaking emissions by 2030.

“There’s no way to be on a trajectory that’s consistent with 1.5C by 2030 unless China does a lot more in this decade,” said Alden Meyer, a senior associate at climate and energy think tank E3G.

India, meanwhile, argues that if net-zero by 2050 is the global goal, then rich countries should be carbon neutral ten years earlier to allow poorer, emerging nations a larger carbon allowance and more time to develop.    

A best-case scenario, experts say, would be a G20 communique that calls for ramping up emissions reductions in the coming decade, setting 2023 — when a Paris Agreement “stocktake” is to take place — as a deadline for hard numbers. 

“Worst case would be something squishy that doesn’t emphasise near-term 2030 action, but focuses more on long-term net-zero goals,” said Cleetus.

– Fossil fuels –

G20 finance ministers this summer gave a nod for the first time to carbon pricing as a potentially useful tool in the fight against climate change, but going beyond that has proved hard.

“A major breakthrough is unlikely, the political will is not really there,” said Meyer. 

In 2009, the G20 pledged to “phase out over the medium term inefficient fossil fuel subsidies” that encourage wasteful consumption.

Twelve years later, however, subsidy levels remain in the hundreds of billions of dollars per year.

Proposals by Italy and the United States to set up timetables for action have met  stiff resistance, notably from Russia and Saudi Arabia, according to observers. 

When it comes phasing out coal, the picture is mixed.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s announcement in September that China would stop financing new coal-fired power plants abroad was widely welcomed, and deepens a global trend that the G20 could endorse.

But when it comes to winding down domestic use of coal, positions are sharply divided, which means a forceful call in the communique to end coal is highly unlikely.  

The US, Canada and EU nations favour a rapid phase-out. China, India and Indonesia, however, continue to expand coal-fired energy capacity.

The G20 also includes Argentina, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

Climate change and the relaunch of the global economy will top the G20 agenda as leaders of the world’s most advanced nations meet Saturday, the first in-person gathering since the pandemic.

Looming over the two-day talks in Rome is pressure to make headway on tackling global warming, ahead of the key COP26 summit kicking off in Glasgow Monday.

The stakes are high, with United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres warning G20 leaders Friday to show “more ambition and more action” and overcome mistrust in order to advance climate goals.

“We are still on time to put things on track, and I think the G20 meeting is the opportunity to do that,” Guterres said.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi met leaders as they arrived in the futuristic convention centre known as the “Nuvola” (cloud) in EUR, a southern Rome district built by Benito Mussolini to glorify his fascist regime.

US President Joe Biden flew in on Friday, hoping to turn a page from the tumultuous Trump years and show that American leadership on the world stage is restored. 

Yet the Democrat faces a credibility test as his own signature climate policy — part of a sweeping economic package — is held up amid infighting within his party in Congress.

He met Friday with Pope Francis and then French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, where he admitted Washington had been “clumsy” in handling of a submarine deal with Australia and Britain that left Paris out in the cold.

Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping are absent from Rome, attending only by video link, but the others are taking advantage of the first in-person G20 for more than two years to hold a flurry of bilaterals.

Biden will meet Macron, Germany’s Angela Merkel and Britain’s Boris Johnson later Saturday for talks on Iran, after Tehran said it would resume discussions with world powers next month on reviving the 2015 nuclear accord.

Security is tight in Rome following violent protests earlier this month over the extension of Italy’s coronavirus pass to workplaces, and a Fridays for Future climate march is expected in the city later in the day.

Draghi has called for a “G20 commitment on the need to limit the rise in temperatures to 1.5 degrees” above pre-industrial levels, the most ambitious target outlined in the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.

Johnson — the host of the UN climate summit next week — said neither the G20 nor the COP26 meetings could stop global warming, and “the most we can hope to do is slow the increase”.

Humanity, Johnson told reporters onboard his flight to Rome, can regress “at extraordinary speed”.

“You saw that with the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, and I’m afraid to say that it’s true today unless we get this right in tackling climate change,” he said.

Complicating the task for the G20 will be disparities between top world powers.

China, the world’s biggest polluter and responsible for more than a quarter of all carbon emissions, has been accused of sidestepping calls to stop building new coal-fired power plants.

A new plan submitted by Beijing to the UN ahead of COP26 fell short of environmentalists’ expectations, with a target date of 2060 to reach carbon neutrality.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, meanwhile, has steadfastly demanded that his country be paid for protecting its share of the Amazon.

The world’s biggest rainforest is seen as a vital resource to combat climate change for its ability to absorb fossil fuel emissions.

 – Taxing global players –

A surer bet for concrete progress at the G20 involves taxation, as the group is expected to endorse the 15 percent minimum international tax rate on multinational companies after nearly 140 countries reached an OECD-brokered deal.

The move seeks to end tax optimisation, in which global corporations — including big US tech firms such as Apple and Google parent Alphabet — shelter profits in countries with low-tax systems.

The OECD says a 15 percent global minimum corporate tax rate could add $150 billion annually to global tax revenues.  

No new pledges are expected on Covid-19 vaccines at the summit.

G20 finance and health ministers meeting Friday said members would “take steps to help boost the supply of vaccines and essential medical products and inputs in developing countries and remove relevant supply and financing constraints.”

Climate change and the relaunch of the global economy will top the G20 agenda as leaders of the world’s most advanced nations meet Saturday, the first in-person gathering since the pandemic.

Looming over the two-day talks in Rome is pressure to make headway on tackling global warming, ahead of the key COP26 summit kicking off in Glasgow Monday.

The stakes are high, with United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres warning G20 leaders Friday to show “more ambition and more action” and overcome mistrust in order to advance climate goals.

“We are still on time to put things on track, and I think the G20 meeting is the opportunity to do that,” Guterres said.

Security was tight in Rome as US President Joe Biden arrived in the Italian capital anxious to turn a page from the tumultuous Trump years and show that American leadership on the world stage is restored. 

Yet the Democrat faces a credibility test as his own signature climate policy — part of a sweeping economic package — is held up amid infighting within his party in Congress.

Absent from the G20 will be Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping, who plan to attend by video link. 

Summit host Mario Draghi, the Italian prime minister, has called for a “G20 commitment on the need to limit the rise in temperatures to 1.5 degrees” above pre-industrial levels, the most ambitious target outlined in the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.

On Friday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson — the host of the UN talks next week — gave a dire warning of what could happen if the world failed.

“We are not going to stop global warming in Rome or in this meeting in COP,” he told reporters aboard his plane to Rome. “The most we can hope to do is slow the increase.”

Humanity, Johnson warned, can regress “at extraordinary speed”.

“You saw that with the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, and I’m afraid to say that it’s true today unless we get this right in tackling climate change.”

Complicating the task for the G20 will be disparities between top world powers on tackling global warming.

China, the world’s biggest polluter and responsible for more than a quarter of all carbon emissions, has been accused of sidestepping calls to stop building new coal-fired power plants.

A new plan submitted by Beijing to the UN ahead of COP26 fell short of environmentalists’ expectations, with a target date of 2060 to reach carbon neutrality.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, meanwhile, has steadfastly demanded that his country be paid for protecting its share of the Amazon.

The world’s biggest rainforest is seen as a vital resource to combat climate change for its ability to absorb fossil fuel emissions.

 – Taxing global players –

A surer bet for concrete progress at the G20 involves taxation, as the group is expected to endorse the 15 percent minimum international tax rate on multinational companies after nearly 140 countries reached an OECD-brokered deal.

The move seeks to end tax optimisation, in which global corporations — including big US tech firms like Apple and Google parent Alphabet — shelter profits in countries with low-tax systems.

The OECD says a 15 percent global minimum corporate tax rate could add $150 billion annually to global tax revenues.  

G20 finance ministers gave their backing to the tax overhaul in July. 

Although no new pledges are expected on Covid-19 vaccines at the G20, a press release from a Friday meeting of G20 finance and health ministers stated that members would “take steps to help boost the supply of vaccines and essential medical products and inputs in developing countries and remove relevant supply and financing constraints.”

A security force of over 5,000 police and soldiers has been mobilised for the summit, according to the interior ministry, and several demonstrations are expected. 

The summit is being held away from the city centre, after violent clashes erupted earlier this month between protesters and police over the extension of Italy’s coronavirus pass to all workplaces.

US President Joe Biden heads to a climate gathering this weekend without a commitment on tackling global warming after his deeply divided Democrats failed to get behind his sweeping economic agenda.

Biden had wanted to show the landmark COP26 conference in Scotland that Washington is leading the world on decarbonizing, but the package of social reforms containing his signature climate policy was held up by infighting in Congress.

“The Build Back Better Act is a huge step forward in meeting President Biden’s climate goals,” said Intersect Power chief Sheldon Kimber, part of a group of CEOs calling on lawmakers to end months of inaction as Biden took off for Rome.

“But meeting them is going to take collective will, some social consensus, and leadership from the government and the private sector, and I hope that Congress finds the will to pass this legislation.” 

The White House says it is closer than ever to realizing an ambitious goal of slashing emissions by at least 50 percent over the decade via climate provisions in its $1.75 trillion Build Back Better bill.

Almost a third of the price tag for the package of reforms on health and child care, education and clean energy is made up of spending on greening the environment.

“On climate, on so many other issues, this bill is historic, compared to anything we’ve ever done in our history, really,” said Massachusetts senator and environmental activist Ed Markey. 

“You have to go back to the New Deal in Franklin Roosevelt’s era to find anything that’s comparable.”

– Double blow –

But differences among Democrats mean it is almost certain not to pass before Sunday — the start of the biggest climate conference since talks in Paris in 2015 and a crucial step in setting worldwide emissions targets.

Biden’s biggest setback came when a single coal-state Democrat in the 50-50 split Senate killed a program of incentives and penalties within the bill to push fossil fuel burning utilities toward cleaner energy.

The White House released a slimmed-down bill on Thursday offering alternative climate measures and appeasing moderates by drastically reining in the initial $3.5 trillion top line.

Biden had delayed his flight to rally House Democrats to hold a vote on the pared back bill, but progressives insisted there was not enough time to green-light the compromise ahead of Biden’s European excursion. 

A party-wide commitment would have allowed Biden to arrive at the UN climate summit with a credible pledge to devote more than $500 billion to meet its emissions targets. 

It was a double blow on the environment for Biden, as the party’s left flank has steadfastly refused to support separate infrastructure legislation without a simultaneous vote on their favored social welfare priorities. 

The $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure framework (BIF), which has already advanced from the Senate, would provide almost $50 billion to prepare communities for flooding and wildfires fueled by climate change. 

– ‘Good news’ –

Liberals in the House, already angered by long-term priorities like family leave and a proposed billionaires’ tax getting left on the cutting room floor, fear that moderates will drop the party-line social spending bill as soon as the cross-party roads and bridges package passes.

“As you know by now, the House will postpone the vote on the BIF,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a letter to colleagues on Thursday night. 

“The good news is that most members who were not prepared for a yes vote today have expressed their commitment to support the BIF.”   

Despite lawmakers’ simmering frustrations as they headed back to their home districts, progressives signaled late Thursday they would be ready — in principle — to vote on the infrastructure bill and the social welfare bill as early as next week.

Mike Vandenbergh, a legal scholar at Vanderbilt University in Nashville and an expert in environmental law, said that even without unity in Congress, Biden’s election victory over Donald Trump alone was a signal to the world that America cares about climate change.

“It is very difficult to prevail over a sitting president, but Biden did that in part because of climate issues,” Vandenbergh told AFP.

“That is the most important lesson of the last year regarding international climate efforts.”