Good morning.
Leaders representing more than 1 billion of the people most at risk from the climate crisis have accused the G20 of failing poor and vulnerable countries by not agreeing to a climate plan that would ensure their people’s survival.
The leading figures at the Cop26 climate talks told the Guardian they were “extremely concerned” and had hoped for more from the G20 summit in Rome.
They said the prospect of limiting global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, a vital threshold that scientists say is a “planetary boundary”, was slipping away as the UN conference opened in Glasgow.
Gaston Browne, the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda and chair of the Alliance of Small Island States, which represents 39 countries, said: “From what I’ve seen it appears we are going to overshoot 1.5C. We are very concerned about that. This is a matter of survival for us.”
He blamed the influence of powerful private-sector interests for the G20’s failure to come up with better plans, saying: “We are here to save the planet, not to protect profits.”
From the seemingly inexorable increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to the rapid growth in green energy, here’s the climate crisis explained in 10 charts.
How bad are emissions from key polluting countries? My colleague Miranda Bryant plays “Cop trumps” to find out who has been taking steps to improve and who really has not.
As an environment writer, Fiona Harvey has seen many setbacks – but also triumphs, such as the tackling of acid rain. Here she shares her optimism for Cop26.
Joe Biden dismisses bad polling and says domestic agenda set to pass
Joe Biden sought to brush off concerns about bad polling on Sunday, telling reporters he expected Democrats to overcome internal differences and pass his domestic spending plan and a bipartisan infrastructure deal in the week to come.
Earlier, an NBC News poll found that 54% of US adults disapproved of Biden’s performance, down six points since August, a period in which the president’s domestic agenda has stalled amid intra-party division.
Biden spoke to reporters in Rome at the end of the G20, before traveling to Glasgow for the Cop26 climate summit.
He said: “I didn’t run to determine how well I’m going to do in the polls. I ran to make sure that I follow through on what I said I would do as president of the United States.
“I said that I would make sure that we were in a position where we dealt with climate change, where we moved in a direction that would significantly improve the prospects of American workers having good jobs and good pay. And further that I would make sure that we dealt with the crisis that was caused by Covid.
“I believe we will pass my Build Back Better plan. I believe we will pass the infrastructure bill.”
Top Democrats reportedly want a final version of Biden’s $1.75tn spending plan drafted by Sunday and passed by Tuesday.
The price tag has come down dramatically from $3.5tn, with concessions to senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. The infrastructure deal is valued at $1tn.
In a 50-50 Senate, and with no Republican support on spending, Manchin and Sinema are key. Democrats must use reconciliation, a way to pass budgetary initiatives via a simple majority rather than 60 votes.
Jen Psaki, White House press secretary to Joe Biden, tests positive for Covid
Jen Psaki, Joe Biden’s White House press secretary, said on Sunday she had tested positive for Covid-19.
Psaki, 42, did not travel with Biden to Rome for this week’s G20 summit. Biden has been accompanied in Europe by his principal deputy press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre.
The news of a positive test for a close aide to the president came a little over a year after an outbreak at the White House reached the then president, Donald Trump, who fell seriously ill and was forced to spend time in hospital.
In a statement, Psaki said she last saw the 78-year-old Biden on Tuesday, “when we sat outside more than 6ft apart and wore masks”.
Biden tested negative for Covid-19 on Saturday, Reuters quoted “a person familiar with the matter” as saying.
Why didn’t she travel to Europe for the G20 and Cop25 talks? Psaki said she stayed in the US “due to a family emergency, which was members of my household testing positive for Covid-19”.
Has Biden had a booster shot of the Covid vaccine? Yes, the president got his Covid-19 booster on 27 September, shortly after federal regulators approved the third dose for many Americans.
In other news …
A suspect has been arrested for attempted murder after 17 people were injured in a knife, fire and acid attack on a train in Tokyo that was carried out by a man wearing a Joker costume.
As Trump and allies falsely claim the vote was stolen, nearly one in three election officials feel unsafe in their job. Those who uphold the election machinery say threats are the new normal.
Southwest Airlines announced an internal investigation after a pilot was reported to have signed off a message to passengers by saying: “Let’s go Brandon.” The apparent non-sequitur is in fact a rightwing meme.
The US supreme court is set to hear oral arguments over whether Texas can continue to allow private citizens to enforce a controversial six-week abortion ban on Monday.
Stat of the day: The average American has 47 unread text messages and 1,602 unopened emails
While social media and messaging apps claim to keep us more connected to each other, many younger users are finding themselves exhausted from receiving constant notifications and balancing numerous exchanges at once. The after-effect? Delayed responses, forgetting to get back to someone entirely, and a need for frequent phone breaks. In fact, a 2020 study exploring the effects of information overload found that “over-exposure to information can suppress the likelihood of response by overloading users, contrary to analogies to biologically inspired viral spread”.
Don’t miss this: the devastating, destructive love affairs that involve no sex at all
An emotional affair is characterised by nonsexual intimacy with someone other than your partner, in such a way that violates their trust and expectations. With technology enabling round-the-clock and covert communication, it has never been easier to fall into that grey area between “just friends” and “more than friends” – often with plausible deniability. According to a 2015 YouGov study of 1,660 British adults, 20% of people have been unfaithful to their partner. Of those, 15% said their infidelity had no physical component.
Climate check: the show about our throwaway addiction and how to cure it
How will this age be remembered? After the stone age, the bronze age, the steam age and the information age, what material or innovation will most define the current era? According to a new exhibition at the Design Museum, the most ubiquitous hallmark of the Anthropocene is not a gamechanging material, nor the mastery of technology. It’s trash. “We are arguably living in the waste age,” says Justin McGuirk, the London museum’s chief curator. “The production of waste is absolutely central to our way of life, a fundamental part of how the global economy operates.”
Want more environmental stories delivered to your inbox? Sign up to our new newsletter, Down to Earth (formerly Green Light) to get original and essential reporting on the climate crisis every week
Last thing: San Francisco’s bohemian boat-dwellers fight for their way of life
For decades, a group known as the “anchor-outs” enjoyed a relatively peaceful existence in a corner of the San Francisco Bay. The mariners carved out an affordable, bohemian community on the water, in a county where the median home price recently hit $1.8m. But their haven could be coming to an end – and with it, a rapidly disappearing way of life. The agency that oversees the local waterway known as the Richardson Bay has in recent months begun a fervent crackdown on the boat-dwellers, who they say are here illegally and pose a threat to safety and the marine environment. The anchor-outs, meanwhile, are fighting back.
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