Race to be next UN secretary general could rest on US and China trade-offs

Growing field of hopefuls face fraught task of achieving consensus from five permanent security council members Numerous last-minute entrants in the race to become the new UN secretary general are being discussed amid concerns that the world powers may not be able to agree a successor to António Guterres from the current field of seven candidates. Three rounds of secret ballots have so far not produced an obvious frontrunner, with probably only three candidates regarded as still having a realistic chance of gathering the required support. Continue reading… The Guardian

‘Science demands action’: world leaders and UN push climate agenda forward despite Trump’s attacks

World leaders have unveiled new targets to cut planet-heating pollution at the United Nations, in a bid to spur fresh impetus to the beleaguered climate effort a day after Donald Trump called the crisis “the greatest con job ever perpetrated upon the world”. A total of 120 countries and the European Union announced new goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in New York on Wednesday. The pledges most notably include one from China, the world’s leading emitter. António Guterres, the UN secretary-general, convened the special summit for the new goals…

Xi contrasts China’s clean energy promises with Trump turmoil

China will continue to push forward on the climate crisis, Xi Jinping has said while appearing to criticise the “protectionism” of Donald Trump’s tariff policies. The Chinese president was attending a closed-door virtual meeting with the UN secretary general, António Guterres, Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, and about a dozen other heads of state and government to discuss the climate crisis. Xi told the meeting that China would “not slow down its climate actions”, according a draft of his remarks.…

Who’s who at Cop28: the leaders with the world’s future in their hands

Cop28 officially opens on 30 November in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, and the conference is scheduled to end on 14 December, although is likely to run later. World leaders will attend the world climate action summit segment on 1 and 2 December and after they depart the crunch negotiations will be done by their representatives, environment ministers or other high-ranking officials. Sultan Al Jaber, Cop28 president Sultan Al Jaber. Photograph: Kamran Jebreili/AP Sultan Al Jaber, the president-designate of Cop28, is minister for advanced technology in the government of…