President Joe Biden was flashed by a ‘large naked Scottish man’ as he travelled with his motorcade from Edinburgh to Glasgow.
The American leader had been en route to the COP26 summit inside his armoured Cadillac ‘Beast’ when the naked man took a picture of the president’s fleet of vehicles from his front window, according to the White House pool report.
The incident came as President Biden announced a crackdown on emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, during his second day at the global climate summit in Glasgow.
Today, BBC reporter Jon Sopel tweeted: ‘From the White House pool report on @POTUS journey from Edinburgh to Glasgow: ”At one point when we were still on smaller country roads, a large, naked Scottish man stood in his front window taking a picture of the motorcade with his phone.” Welcome to Scotland, Mr President.’
President Joe Biden had been travelling with his motorcade from Edinburgh to Glasgow when the naked man took a picture of the president’s fleet of vehicles
The American leader announced a crackdown on emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, during his second day at the global climate summit in Glasgow today
BBC reporter Jon Sopel said the naked man took a picture of the motorcade with his phone, according to the White House pool report
The location of the incident has not yet been confirmed.
Last night President Biden’s motorcade was spotted filling up at a petrol station in Edinburgh – where he is staying before taking the enormous convoy back and forth from Glasgow every day trailed by a helicopter.
Local man Gareth Mackie was stunned to spot The Beast and its decoy, plus at least two other huge SUVs which make up the 20-strong presidential motorcade.
But today critics pointed out at the irony of Mr Biden attending a climate change conference in Glasgow only to stay 45miles away in the capital.
During the second day of the COP26 summit President Biden spoke of the benefits of tackling methane leaks to world leaders
It came soon after he pledged American support for a new global push to end deforestation.
But his promise of U.S. leadership comes as his domestic policy agenda stalls, snarling some of his key climate promises.
Biden announced that about 100 nations had pledged to tackle methane emissions.
‘It’s gonna improve health, reduce asthma, respiratory rate emergencies,’ said Biden.
‘It’s going to improve the food supply as well by cutting crop losses and related ground level pollution.
‘That’s going to boost our economies, saving companies money reducing methane leaks, catching methane turning it into new revenue streams, as well as creating good paying union jobs for our workers.’
But Republicans slammed Biden for jetting to Europe when inflation was soaring and gas prices were rising at home.
Sen. John Barraso, ranking member on the Senate Energy Committee, said the president wanted kill off affordable energy sources that Americans need.
The president’s motorcade along the M8 from Edinburgh to the COP26 summit in Glasgow
The fleet of vehicles travelling along the motorway near Salsburgh on the way to the UN Climate Change Conference
President Biden’s motorcade was spotted filling up at a petrol station in Edinburgh – where he is staying – last night
During the COP26 summit today President Biden spoke of the benefits of tackling methane leaks to world leaders
‘The White House’s plan is a recipe for disaster,’ he said.
‘It will result in skyrocketing power bills, less reliable energy, and fewer jobs for the American people.
‘Shutting down the United States’ economy won’t fix climate change. It will only enrich China.’
President Biden also met with Bill Gates on the sidelines of COP26 today as America’s billionaires jetted into Glasgow for the UN Climate Summit.
Biden is pushing The First Movers Coalition – a clean energy technology program to combat climate change, a project Gates is supporting. The two men teamed up to promote the project.
The president said: ‘We need all of us working together. I know you’re tired of hearing that. I want to thank all the private sector for their work.’
Boris Johnson today trumpeted a £14billion deal with 100 countries – including Brazil and China – to protect the world’s forests.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and U.S. President Joe Biden during a session on ‘Accelerating clean technology innovation and deployment’
The PM said he wanted humanity to shift from being the ‘conqueror’ of nature to its ‘custodian’ as he seized on the pact as evidence of progress at his COP26 summit.
The gathering in Glasgow has suffered another setback as major polluter India only committed to reaching Net Zero by 2070 – two decades after the UK and other powers.
But British officials have been encouraged by PM Narendra Modi’s commitment to slash carbon emissions by 2030.
And scores of countries have signed up to a US-EU initiative to cut methane emissions by 30 per cent by the end of the decade, in what is seen as one of the fastest ways of reducing the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Mr Johnson – who also held an event with US President Joe Biden on ‘building back better’ later – said climate change and biodiversity loss were two sides of the same coin and the ‘great chainsaw massacre’ had to end.
‘We can’t deal with a devastating loss of habitats and species without tackling climate change, and we can’t deal with climate change without protecting our natural environment and respecting the rights of indigenous people who are its stewards,’ he said.
‘It’s central to the ambition of the UK’s Cop presidency that we act now and we end the role of humanity as nature’s conqueror and instead becomes nature’s custodian.
‘We have to stop the devastating loss of our forests, these great teeming ecosystems, three trillion-pillared cathedrals of nature that are the lungs for our planet.’