Leaked Documents Show Countries Lobbying Against Climate Action. What Does This Mean Ahead of COP26?

Firemen use a hose to extinguish a fire near Le Luc, southern France, Aug. 17, 2021. | Daniel Cole/AP

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From fossil fuels to meat eating, countries asked the UN to remove key climate recommendations.

LISTENING LESSON: CLIMATE CHANGE AND NATIONAL INTERESTS

Chủ đề: Biến đổi khí hậu và lợi ích quốc gia
Đối tượng: Học sinh THPT – trình độ B1–B1+
Thời lượng: 45 phút
Nguồn ngữ liệu: Global Citizen

Bối cảnh: Nội dung đề cập đến các tài liệu bị rò rỉ trước Hội nghị COP26 năm 2021. Đây là thông tin về một sự kiện trong quá khứ.

I. LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Sau bài học, học sinh có thể:

• Nghe hiểu ý chính và thông tin cụ thể trong một bản tin về khí hậu.
• Nhận biết thái độ, quan điểm khác nhau trong nội dung nghe.
• Sử dụng từ vựng về phát thải, nhiên liệu hóa thạch và hỗ trợ tài chính.
• Trình bày ngắn gọn ý kiến về hợp tác quốc tế trong ứng phó với biến đổi khí hậu.

II. BEFORE YOU LISTEN

Activity 1. Discuss the questions in pairs.

1. What human activities contribute to climate change?
2. Why might some countries find it difficult to reduce their use of fossil fuels?
3. How can wealthy countries help poorer countries deal with climate change?

Activity 2. Match the words and phrases with their meanings.

III. WHILE YOU LISTEN

Task 1. Listening for the main idea

Listen and choose the best answer.

1. What is the main purpose of the report?

A. To explain how countries produce fossil fuels.
B. To describe disagreements over recommendations for climate action.
C. To compare the costs of different green technologies.
D. To encourage people to stop eating all animal products.

Task 2. Listening for specific information

Listen again and complete the notes. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.

Task 3. Understanding details

Decide whether the statements are True (T) or False (F).

7. The leaked documents included countries’ comments on a draft report.
8. All the countries mentioned supported a rapid reduction in fossil fuel use.
9. Financial assistance was discussed only in relation to adapting to climate change.
10. The report connected lower meat consumption with reduced emissions.

Task 4. Making an inference

Choose the best answer.

11. What can be inferred from the report?

A. International climate agreements may be difficult because countries have different economic interests.
B. Every country places environmental protection above economic interests.
C. Poorer countries have already received enough financial support.
D. The leaked documents proved that green technologies were ineffective.

IV. AFTER YOU LISTEN

Activity 1. Group discussion

Discuss the following question:

How can countries protect jobs while reducing greenhouse gas emissions?

Use these expressions:

• One possible solution is to…
• Governments could support workers by…
• Wealthy countries should…
• This would help because…

Activity 2. Short summary

Complete the summary in your own words.

Before COP26 in 2021, leaked documents showed that some countries wanted to change ____________________. The disagreements concerned ____________________ and ____________________. The report suggests that international cooperation can be difficult because ____________________.

V. EXIT TICKET

Write two sentences:

1. State one disagreement mentioned in the listening.
2. Suggest one way countries could cooperate on climate change.

VI. LISTENING SCRIPT

A leak of thousands of documents has this week revealed some of the world’s heavyweight countries in fossil fuel and meat production asking the United Nations to downplay these industries’ contribution to the climate crisis. 

On top of this, some wealthy nations were seen pushing back on recommendations to help finance poorer countries in mitigating and adapting to the climate crisis. 

This comes just days before the start of the UN Climate Change Conference — known as COP26 — a crucial event that has been described as the last best chance for countries to pull up their socks and effectively tackle climate change. 

The documents, seen by investigative journalists at Greenpeace’s Unearthed and the BBC, are in fact thousands of comments and recommendations by countries for the UN to make changes to a soon-to-be-released report on the world’s climate mitigation options. 

Some countries can be seen asking for changes to be made to the report to water down statements about the urgent scaling-down needed on meat production and the use of fossil fuels. The BBC also reports that some wealthy countries questioned the need to financially assist poorer nations with investments into green technologies.

Saudi Arabia, Australia, Japan, Norway, China, and Iran all had representatives commenting on the draft report and pushing back against statements on the need to move away from fossil fuels to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The document leak also includes controversial commentary from organizations and institutions similarly remarking that the rapid reduction of fossil fuel consumption is unnecessary.

Meanwhile, some of the world’s biggest animal agriculture economies, Brazil and Argentina, were strongly arguing against evidence in the report that points to reducing meat (specifically beef) consumption as a highly effective approach to cutting down on emissions. 

Source: Globalcitizen.org

VII. ANSWER KEY

Vocabulary: 1–d; 2–e; 3–b; 4–a; 5–f; 6–c.

Suggested summary:

Before COP26 in 2021, leaked documents showed that some countries wanted to change a draft UN climate report. The disagreements concerned fossil fuel use and meat consumption. The report suggests that international cooperation can be difficult because countries have different economic interests.