Biden Summit: A New Wave of Climate Commitments
Watch the Leaders Summit on Climate by the US President Joe Biden
Washington - After joining back the Paris Climate Accord on his first day of presidency, President Biden held an online climate summit with heads of states from 40 countries, including 17 countries that are responsible for 80% of global emissions and global GDP, as well as countries leading the fight against climate change and the very victims of it. The summit served as a key milestone before the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) this November in Glasgow.
During the summit, the world leaders came together to announce new and improved commitments to mitigating climate change. This included promises to cut emissions by 50% by 2030 by the US, by 46% by 2030 by Japan, and by 40 - 45% by 2030 by Canada. Countries like India and China which are first and third in Green House Gas (GHG) emissions, did not provide any new commitments. Chinese President Xi Jinping surprised world leaders last September by vowing to go carbon neutral by 2060, however, has continued to invest in fossil fuel projects to build coal-fired power plants across Asia. On a positive note, Brazil, a country that has previously threatened to withdraw from Paris accord, took a sharp turn to commit to an end of illegal deforestation by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050.
Ahead of the summit, The Dalai Lama and 100 other Nobel Laureates wrote an open letter to the world leaders, urging them to keep fossil fuels in the ground and calling for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty. (click to read the open letter)
An introduction to Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty
Watch the trailer to the film 'An Inconvenient Truth' by Davis Guggenheim
Watch the trailer to the film 'Before the Flood' by Fisher Stevens
Film Screening charged with "Inciting Terrorism" in Hong Kong
Watch the trailer to the film "Cockroach" by Ai Weiwei about the 2019 protests in Hong Kong
Hong Kong - A screening of the documentary film 'Inside the Red Brick Wall' by the pro-democracy Confederation of Trade Unions (CTU) has been accused of "promoting terrorism" and violating the national security law by pro-Beijing lawmaker Holden Chow. “I urge the police to take swift action and legal enforcement to make sure that all the legal enforcement are properly followed,” he said.
"They have been launching a cultural revolution to criticize people holding different political opinions. I think that's very worrying. The freedoms we still enjoy are being eroded," said the CTU's secretary-general, Mung Siu-tat. The film, directed by an anonymous group called “Hong Kong Documentary Filmmakers" focuses on the clashes between the pro-democracy protestors and the Hong Kong Police at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) in November 2019.
The film was premiered at the IDFA festival in Amsterdam in December 2020 and is also set to be screened at the Taiwan International Documentary Festival, opening next week. "Eternal Springs in the Mountains" and "Taking Back the Legislature" were also among the films that were screened.
Watch the trailer to the film 'Inside the Red Brick Wall' by Hong Kong Documentary Filmmakers