Activists in Glasgow draw attention to funding needs for climate action on Monday. (ALASTAIR GRANT / AP)
Former United States president Barack Obama has criticized his successor, Donald Trump, for pulling the country out of the Paris Agreement, which he said stalled US progress on climate issues.
In a speech at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties, or COP 26, in Glasgow, Scotland, Obama said Trump oversaw "four years of active hostility towards climate science" while president.
"Of course, back in the United States, some of our progress stalled when my successor decided to unilaterally pull out of the Paris Agreement in his first year in office," Obama said on Monday. "I wasn't real happy about that."
But Obama said the US is "once again engaged and prepared to take a leadership role" now that the country under President Joe Biden has rejoined the agreement.
During the World Leaders Summit at the conference on Nov 1, Biden took the unusual step of apologizing for Trump's withdrawal, which he said had left the US "behind the eight ball" on climate issues.
China's special climate envoy, Xie Zhenhua, told reporters last week the US withdrawal had hindered progress toward the agreement's goals, and that leaders had to work together to make up this ground once more.
"Five years have been wasted due to the US' withdrawal (from the Paris Agreement). Now, we need to make up the lost time," Xie said.
Practical solutions needed
Obama was speaking on a day at the conference dedicated to climate adaptation, where delegates were charged with delivering the practical solutions needed for nations to adapt to climate impacts and address loss and damage.
Fourteen nations committed $232 million to the Adaptation Fund, which backs developing countries to take action where they most need it.
"Climate-vulnerable communities are particularly at the forefront of my mind, and will be so throughout these negotiations," COP 26 President Alok Sharma said. "They, and the generations to come, will not forgive us if we fail to deliver in Glasgow."
On Monday, the United Kingdom allotted $372 million to support countries across Asia and the Pacific region, so they can plan and invest in climate action, improve conservation, and deliver low-carbon development.
Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the UK's secretary of state for international trade, said on Monday: "We must act now to stop climate change from pushing more people into poverty. We know that climate impacts disproportionately affect those already most vulnerable."
Wang Yi, a senior scientific adviser in China's delegation at COP 26, said it was essential that rich nations make good on a promise to deliver $100 billion in climate finance to developing regions each year, a target that was missed in 2020. "China would like more effort on supporting developing countries," Wang told The Guardian, a UK newspaper, on Monday.
