Biden criticizes Russia and China for not joining climate commitments

• One such agreement, which didn't go as far as the U.S. had hoped, was a target of reaching carbon neutrality "by or around midcentury," and agreeing to end public financing for coal-fired power generation abroad. No target was established for phasing out coal domestically.

The big picture: UN Secretary-General António Guterres professed disappointment with the final statement, tweeting, "While I welcome the #G20's recommitment to global solutions, I leave Rome with my hopes unfulfilled — but at least they are not buried."

• Leaders from two powerful members of the G20, Russia and China, did not attend the summit, purportedly due to the ongoing pandemic, per CNN.

What he's saying: Responding to a question citing NGOs that believed the summit's climate commitments were "underwhelming," Biden pointed to the absence of Russia and China.

• "The disappointment relates to the fact that" Russia and China, "basically didn't show up in terms of any commitments to deal with climate change," Biden said.

• "I found it disappointing myself. But what we did do, we passed a number of things here to end the subsidization of coal, we made commitments here from across the board, all of us, in terms of what we're going to bring to" Cop26.
• "I think you're gonna see we've made significant progress, and more has to be done. But it's going to require us to continue to focus on what China's not doing, what Russia's not doing, and what Saudi Arabia's not doing."