The Latest: Papua New Guinea may roll back green measures

Why should Papua New Guinea make the sacrifice Glasgow One must blame humanity, not God, for climate changes sinful harms, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says.Negotiators at the Glasgow climate talks have an obligation to people, not just the planet, to stop those sinful choices of humankind, that cause climate change, said the U.S. cabinet secretary.

Papua New Guinea's environment minister has said that given the lack of financial aid, his country may “rethink” efforts to cut logging, coal mining and even coming to these meetings.

“If they keep stalling (…) there's no point in returning to any future COP meetings,” said Minister Wera Mori. Mori said rich and developed nations like the United States, the UK, China, Japan, and the EU must pay up and that without a meaningful agreement in Glasgow, Papua New Guinea may roll back measures they have taken to cut greenhouse gas emissions. “We will have to decide as a country to rethink what position we have taken (...) in terms of logging, in terms of extracting coal and other measures,” Mori warned. The minister said his country has cut back on logging, plans to ban round log exports by 2025, and hasn't issued new coal mining permits. But if financing is not forthcoming then “we cannot be swimming around in the wilderness.” “Logging is a $1 billion industry. We've got thousands of square kilometers of coal seam which we want to mine, extract and produce cheap power, cheap energy for our industries,” he said. “Why should Papua New Guinea make the sacrifice?” ___ Glasgow: One must blame humanity, not God, for climate change's “sinful” harms, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says.

Negotiators at the Glasgow climate talks have an obligation to people, not just the planet, to stop “those sinful choices of humankind,” that cause climate change, said the U.S. cabinet secretary. Buttigieg made his religious beliefs part of his aborted presidential run.

Buttigieg was chatting Wednesday with The Nature Conservancy climate scientist Katherine Hayhoe, an evangelical Christian who is married to a pastor, about the religious calling to protect humanity as well as the planet. Buttigieg, a former Indiana mayor, talked about an unnamed religious Indiana Republican official blaming God for climate change and saying it was not for people to deal with.

“What greater sin could there be (than) to blame God” for climate change? Buttigieg asked.

___ Glasgow: The British official chair of the U.N. climate talks in Glasgow says time to resolve key differences is running out.

Alok Sharma told negotiators Wednesday that he still intends to conclude the two-week talks Friday.

“My big, big ask of all of you is to please come armed with the currency of compromise,” he said. “What we agree in Glasgow will set the future for our children and grandchildren.” “I request us all collectively to please roll up our sleeves and get to work,” he added.

The European Union's climate chief, Frans Timmermans, echoed the sense of urgency. “Consider my sleeves rolled,” he told Sharma.

In a swipe at major polluters like China, Russia and Saudi Arabia, whose commitments are seen as being far below what's needed, Timmermans insisted that “major emitters have a major responsibility.” Ahmadou Sebory Touré of Guinea, speaking on behalf of 77 developing countries and China, said they were “extremely concerned with the lack of progress” on the issue of financial aid for poor nations to cope with climate change.

___ Glasgow: Brazil's environment minister has demanded that richer countries provide the US$100 billion annual funding agreed upon to help developing countries switch to clean energy and handle the impact of climate change.

“The $100 billion target has not been met,'' Joaquim Leite said in a speech in Glasgow Wednesday. “And this amount is no longer enough for the world to build a new green economy with a responsible transition.” The minister added that ''More ambitious volumes with easy access and agile execution are needed for inclusive transformation to take place in every territory around the world.” ___ Glasgow: The Biden administration and Democrats are making progress on climate in all kinds of ways, House Democrats said Wednesday, despite congressional troubles that are making passage of President Joe Biden's $555 billion climate legislation a struggle.

Members of a U.S. congressional delegation led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke to reporters during a press conference at the U.N. climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland.

With only the slimmest of majorities in the Senate, and a key coal-state Democratic senator opposed to many of Biden's clean-fuel efforts, Democrats have struggled for months to pass Biden's main climate legislation. At the climate summit, the U.S. has joined some other countries pledging to phase out overseas financing of fossil fuel infrastructure but declined to sign up alongside countries that pledged to wean themselves off coal.

“We wish we could do all kinds of things,” Rep. Jared Huffman of California told reporters at the talks. “But instead of just throwing up our hands because of these political roadblocks and not taking action, we are finding ways to navigate these problems and still take action.” Representatives cited U.S. investment in cleaner energy and transportation, a Biden administration crackdown on methane leaks, and the growing competitiveness of clean energy in the marketplace.

“The coal industry is dying in the United States, not necessarily because of regulations that Donald Trump unwound, but because of economics,” Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)