NPR｜UK and China are framing climate solutions

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The COP29 climate summit is underway in Azerbaijan this week.

A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
With the new Trump administration coming in, there's not as much expectation for the U.S. setting a big climate goal, but at least one major industrial country is making a big pledge to fight global warming.

MARTIN: To walk us through this and other climate news, we have Julia Simon. She's climate solutions correspondent on NPR's climate desk. Julia, good morning.

JULIA SIMON, BYLINE: Good morning.

MARTIN: So the U.N. climate summit began Monday. What are we seeing so far?

SIMON: So going into this climate summit, there hasn't been as much optimism for U.S. leadership. After all, the newly elected Donald Trump famously called climate change a hoax. However, we are seeing other countries stepping up. In the next few months, countries have to announce these big targets for how much climate pollution they are going to cut to limit global warming. And the United Kingdom, they're one of those countries stepping up. Yesterday, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, he gave this speech announcing plans to cut climate pollution at least 81% compared to 1990 levels by 2035.

MARTIN: How does the U.K. plan to do it? That seems like a really ambitious target.

SIMON: The U.K. is investing in proving climate solutions - things like wind energy, solar energy, big batteries, also nuclear energy. But the U.K. is really framing their climate action in economic terms. And, Michel, you hear this economic argument from other countries, like China. China, they're selling their technologies like electric vehicles in emerging markets like in Africa and Latin America. China, the U.K., they see climate solutions making business sense.

MARTIN: OK, back to the U.S. President-elect Trump is in the process of naming his new cabinet. He's announced plans to name a new head of the EPA. That is the former New York congressman, Lee Zeldin. What do we know about him?

SIMON: The word Trump used when announcing his pick of Zeldin is deregulatory. That is, removing government regulations. According to the League of Conservation Voters, Zeldin voted several times against clean air and clean water legislation. With Zeldin, many EPA rules that limit climate pollution could be in jeopardy. And yesterday, the EPA actually finalized this rule that oil and gas companies have to pay a fee when they leak methane - that's this very potent planet-heating gas. Under Trump and a possible Republican trifecta in Congress, Congress may overturn that EPA new methane rule.

MARTIN: OK, Julia, before we let you go, there's one last piece of climate news. A court in the Netherlands just overturned a ruling that the energy company Shell has to reduce its climate pollution by 45%. What are the implications of that?

SIMON: The court did say Shell still has this duty of care to limit planet-heating emissions, but the courts couldn't figure out how big the cuts should be. Still, the point that's being brought up by other environmental groups is that there are still lots of climate litigation claims against big oil companies, including in states like Massachusetts, Hawaii, California. Those cases are being argued in state and municipal courts, and they haven't been decided yet.

MARTIN: That is NPR's Julia Simon. Julia, thank you.

SIMON: Thank you.

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