GLASGOW— US President Joe Biden condemned China and Russia — the world's biggest and fourth-biggest carbon emitters — for not showing up to the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, referred to as COP26, in Glasgow this week.
In a speech on Tuesday night, Biden said climate was "a gigantic issue" and China "walked away", adding it was the "same thing with Russia and Putin", BBC reported.
Neither Russian President Vladimir Putin nor Chinese leader Xi Jinping are at the summit.
Both countries however have sent delegations to the talks, which are due to run for two weeks until November 14.
China is the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide, followed by the US. Russia is the fifth largest after the EU and India.
More than 120 leaders turned up at the conference in Scotland's largest city.
Countries have already announced major deals, including a global pledge to slash methane levels by 2030 as well as to end and reverse deforestation by the same year.
Both China and Russia are signatories of the pledge to reverse deforestation. Before Biden's speech, Putin virtually addressed a meeting on forest management at the COP26 summit on Tuesday, saying that Russia takes the "strongest and most vigorous measures to conserve" woodlands, according to a Kremlin press release.
The US president made his comments when asked about the role other countries have played in talks so far.
"The fact that China is trying to assert, understandably, a new role in the world as a world leader — not showing up, come on," Biden said, adding that Xi Jinping's absence was a "big mistake".
He said the same about Putin, saying that Russia's wilderness was burning and their president "stays mum" about the issue.
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov gave no reason why the Russian leader would not attend when they announced the decision in October, although he said climate change was an "important" priority for Russia.
The same month officials warned UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson that China's President Xi Jinping was not expected to attend. It is thought that President Xi has not left China since early 2020.
In September Xi announced China will aim for carbon neutrality by 2060, with a plan to hit peak emissions before 2030.
President Putin said Russia would also strive to reach carbon neutrality "no later than 2060" in an international energy forum speech on October 13.
Net zero, or becoming carbon neutral, means not adding to the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Critics have argued that international efforts to combat climate change, like COP26, are insufficient or unserious because they often fail to hold some of the top emitters accountable.
As of 2019, China was responsible for 27.92% of global emissions, according to Statistica. The United States accounted for 14.5%, while India accounted for 7.17%, Russia for 4.6%, and Saudi Arabia for 1.59%.
"We showed up, and by showing up, we've had a profound impact on the way I think the rest of the world is looking at the United States and its leadership role," Biden said of COP26.
Steve Milloy, a former Trump-Pence EPA transition member and founder of JunkScience.com, mocked Biden's warning to Xi.
"Biden’s slam of Chinese President Xi and Russian President Putin for not showing up at COP26 is a sad indication of Biden’s failure to grasp or accept real-world realities," Milloy told Fox News. "China wants to be the lone global superpower by 2049. Russia wants to get Europe hooked on its natural gas. So neither country has any interest in hamstringing its own economy with destructive climate regulations."
