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Good morning. There’s a truce and then there’re tensions between certain global powers. Climate action looms large from the G-20 summit in Rome to COP26 in Glasgow. And Russia’s dirty gas is saving Europe from winter hell.
What’s Happening Now
Trade truce. The U.S. and EU clinched a deal on steel and aluminum that will allow the allies to remove tariffs on more than $10 billion of goods a year. The suspension will last two years, during which time they’ll work toward a global accord that would permanently end the tariff regime. Washington’s talks over similar duties with the U.K. are still in progress.
Fishy business. The U.K. and France also reached a deal—sort of. The two sides agreed yesterday to de-escalate the fishing issue, but tensions between Emmanuel Macron and Boris Johnson ratcheted up anyway. Both later said it was up to the other to back down. From tomorrow Paris will add controls on goods moving across its border with the U.K. and block British fishing boats from unloading their catches in France.
And then there are subs. Macron still hasn’t forgiven Australia for backing out of a submarine deal between the two nations and instead flipping the contract to the U.S. for nuclear-powered vessels. The president was asked on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Rome if he thought PM Scott Morrison had lied to him in the past few months about Canberra’s procurement plans. “I don’t think” he lied—”I know” he did, Macron quipped.
The G-20 climate deal fell well short of what some were pushing for in an accord that gave leaders little to take to the COP26 summit this week. The language in the final communique from the two-day summit in Rome mirrors prior pledges made in the 2015 Paris climate accord. Leaders said they remain committed to holding the global average temperature increase well below 2 degrees Celsius.
Johnson is hoping he’ll have more luck at the COP26 summit. He will urge nations to act immediately to avert a climate disaster. The PM has struggled to build momentum and said the talks will be tough. The aim of the summit is to curb emissions, keep within reach the goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees and raise billions in climate finance.
Spotlight
European politicians head into COP26 with big talk on climate action, but the continent is deeply reliant on natural gas that comes with supersized methane emissions.
What’s the issue: European leaders are well ahead of their peers in green action and pushing for a global pledge to cut methane emissions. But the Brussels-Moscow energy relationship is responsible for one of the biggest ongoing fossil fuel transfers on Earth. Methane is much more dangerous in its first two decades in the atmosphere, during which Gazprom’s 2020 emissions would exceed the annual carbon footprint of Paris.
What’s the answer: Stemming methane emissions from oil and gas infrastructure is the rare climate solution that doesn’t require R&D. The IEA estimates about three-quarters of global methane emissions from fossil fuels can be avoided with current technology. More in the Big Take.
What to Watch
The current energy crunch is still preoccupying leaders, even as lawmakers gather at COP26. The U.S. is talking to other nations about how to press OPEC+ to boost output to address supply issues, a senior U.S. official said, though Biden said he was reluctant to describe his plans if they don’t. The cartel meets later this week. Iraq said the planned 400,000 barrel-a-day output boost would be enough to meet demand.
It’s been a hot, hot year. The year 2021 is now expected to qualify among the hottest seven in history, all of them recorded since 2014, according to an early estimate by the UN World Meteorological Organization. The world has warmed 1.1°C since industrialization in the 19th century.
Tehran signaled it will restart nuclear negotiations with Europe “toward the end of November,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. Biden and the leaders of Germany, France, and the U.K. said they still see a chance to revive a deal, but Tehran must change course before sanctions relief. Iran retained Reza Najafi on its talks team; he helped negotiate the original deal.
Opinion
Russia’s failure to boost natural gas shipments to Europe in recent weeks, deliberate or not, undermines its claims of being a reliable supplier, Julian Lee writes. This supports the case for its biggest customers to reduce their dependence on Moscow and augment renewable energy. While gas may be needed to plug power-supply holes for years, diversification is required for safety.
By the Way
Awkward family photos. Several key leaders didn’t attend the weekend’s G-20 summit in person, requiring some ingenuity from the Italian hosts to stick to the tradition of a group photo. The solution: subbing in other ministers (at safe distances, of course), and inviting first responders in masks to join too.