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As it happenedended

Earth Day 2021: Climate activists dump manure on Biden White House as Greta hits out with Twitter bio

Follow the latest updates on day of global environmental talks

Stuti Mishra,Joe Sommerlad,Justin Vallejo
Thursday 22 April 2021 16:40 EDT
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Watch live as Biden hosts major climate summit

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Extension Rebellion put noses out of joint across both sides of the pond on Earth Day. While the climate activists were smashing windows on Canary Wharf in London others were dropping off, well, droppings, as they dumped wheel barrels full of methane-emitting cow poop near the White House to protest Joe Biden’s “bullshit” climate plan.

As Earth Day 2021 was observed around the world, climate activist Greta Thunberg taking aim at both the US and the UK. She told the US House Oversight Committee in Washington, DC, that fossil fuel subsidies are “a disgrace”, while taking an apparant dig at prime minister Boris Johnson for supporting carbon reductions as not some “politically-correct green act of bunny-hugging”.

White House climate envoy John Kerry denounced former president Donald Trump for withdrawing the US from the landmark Paris treaty, which the former Secretary of State signed in 2015.

The GOP, meanwhile, said the Biden administration’s “zeal for costly climate policy” will destroy jobs and industry in the US while competitors like China won’t be bound by the “toothless” Paris climate agreements.

Prince Harry remembered his late grandfather as a "conservation champion" in a message for Earth Day, and said he was proud to continue that work with his organization African Parks.

"I reflect on generations of conservation champions, including my late grandfather, and feel proud and energised to continue doing my part in this legacy," he said.

While the prince was paying tribute to the late Duke of Edinburgh, world leaders were doing the opposite to the former president of the United States.

German Chancellor began her comments at the White House climate summit with a not-so-subtle dig at Trump, who pulled the US out of the Paris Climate Accords in 2020.

“I’m delighted to see that the United States is back, is back to work together with us in climate politics," she said.

The ‘revenge of nature’ in fiction, from Day of the Triffids to Godzilla and Swamp Thing

Mother Earth turning against humanity and seeking retribution for the evils of pollution and deforestation was a potent nightmare for novelists and filmmakers long before global warming was well understood.

Here’s my piece on our pop cultural response to the dawning environmental crisis of our own making.

The ‘revenge of nature’ in fiction, from Day of the Triffids to Godzilla and Swamp Thing

Mother Earth turning against humanity and seeking retribution for the evils of pollution and deforestation was a potent nightmare for novelists and filmmakers long before global warming was well understood

Joe Sommerlad22 April 2021 12:30

‘I saw firsthand how hard France worked to make the Paris agreement happen – the UK must do the same at Cop26'

Former energy secretary Amber Rudd has this for The Independent on the importance of British leadership at November’s make-or-break Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow this November.

The UK must work hard to make Cop26 an historic success | Amber Rudd

Avoiding the worst impacts of the climate crisis is important enough. But that isn’t the only reason why the Glasgow summit matters to the UK

Joe Sommerlad22 April 2021 12:50

White House climate summit gets underway

US vice president Kamala Harris is introducing the White House’s virtual summit on the climate crisis in honour of Earth Day, which sees Joe Biden convening 40 world leaders to discuss lower emissions in order to protect the planet in line with the terms of the Paris accord.

Bold commitments are needed from the biggest polluting nations if the impact of harmful greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is to be reduced.

You can watch the conference in full via the live feed below.

Watch live as Biden hosts major climate summit
Joe Sommerlad22 April 2021 13:07

World’s largest economies have to step up in fight against climate change, says Biden

The US president makes the economic case for the planet’s wealthiest nations averting the environmental crisis in his opening remarks, saying the world has “no choice but to get this done” and that those who lead will reap the benefits of a future renewables boom.

They’re being joined by Japan, which announced earlier it would likewise be seeking to drop its emissions by 46 per cent from 2013 levels by 2030.

Joe Sommerlad22 April 2021 13:18

Biden opens climate summit with promise to act and a plea for help: ‘This is the decisive decade’

Here’s Louise Boyle on the president’s remarks.

Joe Sommerlad22 April 2021 13:25

Xi Jinping reiterates pledge for carbon neutral China by 2060

We’ve already raced through Harris, Biden, US secretary of state Anthony Blinken, UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres, Chinese premier Xi Jinping and now we’re hearing from Narendra Modi.

Xi had this to say:

Here’s Harry Cockburn’s report.

Joe Sommerlad22 April 2021 13:34

Narendra Modi announces US-India partnership

The Indian prime minister made the following announcement during his address:

Joe Sommerlad22 April 2021 13:37

Boris Johnson: ‘This is not about bunny hugging'

The British prime minister declared his commitment to change in characteristic style, by lifting a phrase from the late Prince Philip.

This was also less than coherent.

Jon Stone has this report.

Climate action is not ‘politically correct bunny-hugging’, Boris Johnson says

Prime minister tries to convince developing countries to do their bit

Joe Sommerlad22 April 2021 13:42

Justin Trudeau announces new 40-45% emissions reduction target for Canada

After Japanese PM Yoshihide Suga stressed Tokyo’s commitment to playing a leading role in combating climate change, having announced their new emissions target earlier, Canada’s Justin Trudeau takes to the limelight to announce new goals of his own.

Joe Sommerlad22 April 2021 13:50

Angela Merkel: Tackling climate change is a ‘Herculean task’

Bangladesh’s PM Sheikh Hasina is followed by Germany’s chancellor, who welcomes the US back into the international fold under Joe Biden (a nice dig at Donald Trump) and stresses the scale of the task facing the nations of the world.

She moves on to stressing Germany’s efforts to reform its environmental habits after a past dependence on coal.

Greta Thunberg pronounced herself unimpressed with Merkel in A Year to Change the World for reeling off a list of well-intentioned but insufficient accomplishments in precisely this fashion.

Joe Sommerlad22 April 2021 13:58

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