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G20 Leaders Begin Arriving Next Hour; Biden Goes to G20 without Domestic Agenda Deal; COP26 Faces Daunting Task with Worsening Climate; U.S., U.K., Germany and France to Discuss Iran Nuclear Deal; FDA Authorizes Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine for Children 5-11; Haiti Seeks Extradition of Suspect Arrested in Jamaica; Chinese President Not Attending G20 in Person; Top Execs Say Energy Prices Could Spark Unrest. Aired 2-2:45a ET

Aired October 30, 2021 - 02:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and welcome to CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Paula Newton.

Coming up, just two hours away from the opening of the G20 summit. We're live in Rome with the top of the agenda and meetings of world leaders.

Plus, with time running out, the challenges that lie ahead at COP26. How the global energy crisis could stall the transition to green energy.

And the U.K.'s reigning monarch has new orders from the doctor. What Queen Elizabeth has been advised. That's ahead.

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NEWTON: It's 8 am in Rome and G20 leaders are beginning to gather in just about an hour for the annual summit of the world's largest economies. This will be the group's first chance to talk face to face since 2019.

U.S. President Joe Biden will meet on Saturday with his counterparts from Germany, France and the U.K. to discuss the Iran nuclear deal. On Sunday, the U.S. hosts events on the supply chain crisis.

Then it is off to Glasgow, for the COP26 climate conference. The president spent Friday greeting the Italian hosts of this year's gathering. He also met one-on-one with France's president Emmanuel Macron. Biden conceded that the U.S. was clumsy in its handling of the security deal between the U.K. and Australia that cost France a lucrative submarine contract.

The president also had an audience with Pope Francis. More now from Phil Mattingly.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you, thank you, thank you.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For President Biden, a day of the deeply personal.

BIDEN: My son would want me to give this to you.

MATTINGLY: And the candidly diplomatic.

BIDEN: What we did was clumsy. It was not done with a lot of grace.

MATTINGLY: Day one of Biden's high-stakes foreign trip bookended by two closely watched meeting with Pope Francis and French president Emmanuel Macron, a trip to the Vatican to meet with the pope with a shared faith and in Biden's view philosophy.

BIDEN: You are the most significant warrior for peace I've ever met.

MATTINGLY: The force meeting between the two but at 90 minutes, the longest and most in depth by far, officials said, coming as a fierce debate plays out between U.S. Catholics about Biden and abortion.

QUESTION: Mr. President, did the issue of abortion come up at all?

BIDEN: No, it didn't. It came up, we just talked about the fact that he was happy that I was a good Catholic and I should keep receiving communion.

REPORTER: He said that you should keep receiving communion?

BIDEN: Yes.

MATTINGLY: Biden appearing playful at points.

BIDEN: How old would you be if you didn't know how old you were?

MATTINGLY: Handing the pope a challenge coin and detailed the unofficial military ritual.

BIDEN: The tradition is -- I'm only kidding about this -- next time I see you, you don't have it, then you have to buy the drinks.

MATTINGLY: The meeting with Macron marked by a significantly more turbulent backdrop.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: First and foremost, this matter of breaking the trust between allies.

MATTINGLY: Just weeks after a U.S. agreement with Australia led the country to dump billions worth of French submarine contracts, a move that blindsided the French, something Biden candidly acknowledged caught him off guard as well.

BIDEN: I was under the impression that France had been informed long before that. MATTINGLY: Biden's top national security officials for weeks

scrambling to repair the rift, Biden now publicly doing the same.

BIDEN: There is too much we have done together, suffered together and celebrated together.

MATTINGLY: Macron making clear there is still work to do.

EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT: Now what's important is to be sure that such a situation will not be possible for our future.

MATTINGLY: Biden's real meetings marking a sharp turn from another missed deadline on his domestic agenda.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: Let's not just keep having postponements and leaving any doubt as to when this will happen.

MATTINGLY: With White House officials moving quickly to underscore progress and continue to press for an outcome.

KATE BEDINGFIELD, WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: We're going to get it done and the president is pushing it forward.

MATTINGLY: A senior official acknowledged over the course of the last 6 or 7 weeks, there have been, quote, "hard discussions" between U.S. and French officials as they try to get things back on track.

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MATTINGLY: The same official said that there was a jolt of energy, very clear differences simmering under the surface. This brought them to the forefront, the very differences they tried to address over the course of several calls, meetings and obviously the bilateral meeting over the course of the day.

Officials and both presidents, when they spoke to the press, acknowledged the reality of the moment. There was certainly work to do.

But the most important thing was the future. Obviously, just look at the president's schedule tomorrow and you recognize, the future, it is a pretty wided (sic) scale. The president participating in a trilateral meeting on Iran's nuclear program, one of the biggest issues right now international leaders are grappling with.

One of the other leaders in that meeting, the French president -- Phil Mattingly, CNN, Rome.

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NEWTON: To look at what is ahead, Scott McLean is standing by in London. But we begin our coverage with Ben Wedeman.

It's been a while since these leaders were face-to-face in talks. You and I can agree that face to face is more likely to get something done. But what will success look like here, especially given that China and

Russia are not even sending their leaders in person?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think, Paula, what the leaders are hoping for is some sort of minimum consensus in the leadup to the COP26 summit that begins on Monday, that they have basic agreements on perhaps their differences on the details.

But the need to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The Americans have made it clear that one of their goals is to have an agreement on a minimum corporate tax of 15 percent, globally.

So even though the rhetoric is rather high and hopeful, the actual goals they have are very modest compared to the problems facing the globe in terms of climate change and whatnot.

But I think there is a realization that the G20, it comprises countries that oftentimes don't see eye to eye on much. The United States, the Europeans on the one side; they have been having differences recently.

But then there is China and Russia, which clearly have their own agenda, very much unlike those of the Western countries. So as I said, a minimum consensus, to avoid the appearance of deep divisions going into the COP26 summit next Monday -- Paula.

NEWTON: Still, lots of divisions ahead.

Scott, with us from London, British prime minister, Boris Johnson, putting down the latest marker on climate. He now claims, if the world does not commit to cutting emissions in half, by the end of this decade, that the summit risks failure.

But Boris Johnson, has his own issues with the energy crisis, in the U.K.

Has he put that down as a marker because he truly believes that it will be realistic?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is a great question, Paula. You have to imagine, if COP26 goes down in history, as a success that we would start to see the signs of success this weekend in Rome at the G20.

So far it is seeming that there has been precious few. A spokesperson for the Prime minister, Boris Johnson, said that the success of the conference is still hanging in the balance. While there has been progress made, namely the fact that 80 percent of -- countries representing 80 percent of the global economy, have committed to becoming net zero, at some point, the message from Downing Street is that that has to happen, much, much quicker.

The British believe, as you mention, that if emissions don't get cut in half by 2030, that the, world, really has no chance of keeping a global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius. Downing Street says that Johnson is going to call for more concrete

steps, from the other countries, on reducing carb emissions, on getting money for lower income, countries to help them transition away from fossil fuels, on tree planting and on coal. That last one is a particularly touchy subject for China.

China, alone, accounts for a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions, in the world. That is, in part, because they burn so much coal. Coal, when it is mined, produces plenty of methane, which does not stay in the atmosphere as long as carbon does, not even close.

But while it is there, it has an outsized impact on global warming. So it is a low hanging fruit that countries can address, which might make a bigger impact on climate change in the short term.

The prime minister had a conversation with the Chinese president, yesterday and it was obviously about climate change but there were really no signs that the Chinese plan to take any drastic steps.

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MCLEAN: The promises that they have made ahead of COP26, which as, you and Ben, talked about, President Xi will not be at. Well, those pledges look a lot like the pledges that had already been announced. They will only be slightly different.

So the Chinese emissions goal was to have emissions peak, in 2030, Boris Johnson told Reuters that he pushed Xi on that point, saying 2025 would be better.

NEWTON: That was startling about the Chinese, their statement, targets didn't look much different. We end it for now, Ben Wedeman and Scott McLean, thank you.

We will have a live report from China, coming up.

Now going back to what we heard in Phil Mattingly's package, we discussed it might be too early to know if France will be ready to move on from its diplomatic rift with the United States. But French officials welcomed the Friday meeting, between the countries as a positive step. Here is the French ambassador to the U.S., speaking, earlier with CNN's, Wolf Blitzer.

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PHILIPPE ETIENNE, FRENCH AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: It is also important because it is a lesson for all of us for the future.

The lesson is that we need consultations, indepth, close consultations between allies about our issues which are important for our national security and for our national interest. And this meeting today was very much also forward-looking and has ended with the adaptation of a very substantial joint statement.

(END VIDEO CLIP) NEWTON: CNN political and national security analyst, David Sanger

joins me now. He is also a correspondent for "The New York Times" and the author of "The Perfect Weapon."

Good to see you. It's worth discussing what Biden said the word, "clumsy," which unfortunately is one word and letting slip on what seems to be a debacle in diplomatic terms.

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: This was an interesting example, the submarine deal, because the president's instinct about what needed to be done was exactly right and I think something people who served in the Trump administration and the Obama administration and the Biden administration all could have gotten behind and that was bringing Australia more fully into the alliance and getting them to cause some trouble for the Chinese, by joining in with nuclear powered submarines, that could, pop up anyplace, along the Chinese coast.

It really complicates the military situation for the Chinese. The bad part about this was, of course, France had a deal with Australia. The president, said today, he did not know about it. That seems remarkable, because it wasn't exactly a secret. It was, publicly announced five years ago and was much discussed since.

When he said it was clumsy, I would say that is a great understatement. And of course, the Americans thought that the Australians told the French that the deal was over. And, it turned, out they hadn't.

NEWTON: Is that still letting the United States off the hook easily?

Perhaps Antony Blinken should have borne the blame for some of, this at least?

SANGER: Mr. Blinken, of course, grew up in France. Went to high school in France.

NEWTON: Speaks French, fluently, impeccably, I will add.

SANGER: Yes, and he is responsible for taking care of the relationship with France. He was in some pain on this. It's a really interesting question about why it is, if he understood what was going on, the president didn't.

I think the bigger question that comes out of it is was the U.S. in such a rush, to get a deal with Australia that they forgot about the European allies, who see America's back when it pivots?

That is when the pivot to Asia can all be about, not to say the pivot isn't a good idea and maybe it is a good thing that we are finally executing it. But, boy, clumsy would be the most polite way to explain this.

NEWTON: And perhaps that was the diplomatic word that used. David, I know how closely you follow things with Iran. Let's listen there. Big national security and international security implications on the table at the G20.

When it comes to bringing Iran back to the table, is this something that they can really come back from, in terms of actually getting a deal done or reinstated?

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NEWTON: However you want to put it, with Iran?

SANGER: Paula, if you had asked me that question 3-4 months ago, when the president there was first elected in Iran, I would have said, yes, the Iranians would have come back and called for a couple of modest changes and then get sanctions relief. And that is not what has happened.

What has happened is that the Iranian government has dragged this out. They say now they may need by the end of November. There hasn't been a meeting since mid June. And all of the indications we have, including from the Iranian foreign minister, who I talked to at some length when he was in New York for the U.N. General Assembly, is that the Iranians will demand a complete rewriting of everything that has been negotiated before.

I think that there is a recognition among the Western allies that the deal isn't coming back together anytime soon, that the Iranians are going to continue their push to produce more highly enriched uranium, not to the levels that could make a bomb but just short of that.

That is why you are seeing President Biden meeting with Chancellor Merkel and President Macron and the prime minister of Britain tomorrow, because I think that they recognize that this thing is headed no place good and they have to approach it in a unified manner.

NEWTON: Again, as you said, Iran coming to the table, maybe not an indication that there is going to be a deal. Perhaps it is also just a stalling tactic. David, I know you will be keeping a close eye on what's going on in Rome. Appreciate you being here.

SANGER: Thanks, Paula. Always great to be with you.

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NEWTON: Of course, after Rome, comes Glasgow where world leaders will address the climate crisis at COP26. Later, protests set the stage for the upcoming conference on climate. The target, the world's financial institutions.

Plus, world leaders have a number of tough questions and challenges to tackle at COP26, chief among them how the global energy crisis could make the transition to green energy even more difficult now.

Parents in the United States are now one giant step closer to getting their children vaccinated. Just ahead, a major announcement from the FDA could increase vaccination rates here in the United States, as soon as next week.

Plus Haiti makes a legal move to get a hold of a suspect in the assassination of its president.

But will it make any difference to the case?

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NEWTON: As early as next week, the COVID vaccine could be going in the arms of young children in the United States. The FDA has approved the emergency use of Pfizer's vaccine in 28 million children, ages 5 to 11.

It's a large group of those inoculated would potentially bring the U.S. closer to herd immunity. CNN spoke with a Pfizer executive about the FDA approval and the critical role that the vaccine could play in keeping kids in school.

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DR. WILLIAM GRUBER, SVP, PFIZER VACCINE CLINICAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT: The ability to vaccinate children frees them up to attend school, with reduced risk of outbreaks that limit in-person learning.

I think for many children, school is a safe space as well as, obviously, the important role that it plays in their education so --- and for many children, it is actually a place where they get meals. So this really has a profound effect beyond the important prevention of COVID-19.

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NEWTON: Before kids can get the injections, vaccine advisers at the Centers for Disease Control will meet on Tuesday and give their recommendation. CDC director Rochelle Walensky, meantime, is the person who will make that final decision.

And if she signs off on the use of vaccine, children could start getting shots on Wednesday. CNN's Jake Tapper spoke with a noted pediatrician and asked her what parents could be doing now if they want to get their young children vaccinated as soon as possible.

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DR. LEE SAVIO BEERS, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS: I think what we're hearing is that there may be a couple of days, maybe a little bit -- maybe a week delay in the vaccine, really getting up and running.

And pediatricians are actually working with their communities to get it in their own offices and also to know where in their community it is going to be available. And so reach out to them now so you can start doing some of that pre- planning. Some places are already offering appointments; you can get that. Some places are already offering some of these larger vaccination sites, getting those up and running. So you can call now, find out what the plans are so that you can get it on your calendar.

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NEWTON: Pfizer said it would begin shipping the pediatric doses immediately.

Now just a couple of hours ago, Russia began a 9 day stretch of so- called non working days, in an effort to curb COVID cases. The country reported more than 40,000 new cases with more than 1,100 deaths on Thursday. That's the highest daily figures yet.

About 30 percent of the population is now fully vaccinated. Moscow has been under the new COVID-19 restrictions since Thursday. Residents over 60 who've not been vaccinated or been ill have been ordered to stay home until late February. Restaurants, schools and other venues are now closed.

Now we go to Sudan In the coming hours, the opposition plans to flood the streets with protesters against the military coup. Rallies against the takeover has been going on since troops seized power Monday. Now the opposition wants to hold what it calls a million man march to try to turn up the pressure on military leaders.

The U.S. is calling on troops to avoid violence and restore a power sharing government meant to guide Sudan to democracy.

Haiti is seeking the extradition of a suspect in the assassination of president Jovenel Moise. Officials say the suspect is a Colombian mercenary who was arrested in Jamaica last week. And despite arresting dozens of other suspects, investigators are sort of in the dock around who is behind the killing.

As Patrick Oppmann reports, it's unclear if the extradition will change that.

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PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It could be an important development into the assassination of Haitian president Jovenel Moise, the detention of a Colombian suspect, Mario Antonio Palacios Palacios, detained in Jamaica. Haiti is seeking his extradition.

It is still not clear how the suspect was able to leave Haiti. He was being sought there by officials who say he is about one of 12 Colombian mercenaries, who, Haitian officials say, had been brought to Haiti to kill Jovenel Moise in July. There were multiple arrests but police and Haitian officials have been seeking Palacios since the assassination.

It is not clear if he can shed any light who ordered, financed the assassination and why they apparently wanted Haiti's president dead. This is just one of a number of developments taking place and many controversies swirling around, the current prime minister, Ariel Henry.

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OPPMANN (voice-over): Henry's also dealing with a kidnapping of 16 Americans and one Canadian missionaries who 2 weeks ago on Saturday were taken by one of the powerful gangs near Port-au-Prince. They are being held for millions of dollars in ransom.

Ariel Henry, the embattled prime minister, took to the airwaves to say he would not negotiate with these gangs, that they are the enemies of the Haitian people and that he will defeat them.

But it is an open question; as these gangs prevent gasoline from being delivered, choking off the Haitian economy and calling for Henry to step down, who has more power, Haiti's prime minister or these ruthless gangs that seem to rule so much of the country? -- Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Havana.

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NEWTON: Britain's Queen Elizabeth is being told to take it easy. What her doctors are now saying after a recent overnight stay in hospital.

Plus it's almost that time of year again, a special someone will be CNN's Hero of the Year. We will tell you how you can vote for your favorite hero.

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NEWTON: Queen Elizabeth's doctor ordered rest period will go on weeks longer than expected. Buckingham Palace said that the monarch was told not to undertake any official visits and to rest for at least two weeks. The palace is being quite tightlipped about the exact nature of her condition. CNN's Max Foster has more.

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MAX FOSTER, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT: The queen has been ordered to stay at home by her medics, according to a Buckingham Palace statement, Her Majesty's doctors have advised that she should continue to rest for at least the next 2 weeks.

That could continue depending on medical advice, in theory. We are not being told specifically what medical condition she could be suffering from. We are told by the palace that is a matter of patient confidentiality.

The statement continues, the doctors have advised that the monarch can continue to undertake light desk-based duties, including some virtual audiences. We have seen her carrying out video calls over the last couple of weeks and she has looked pretty well.

A royal source told CNN that the queen remains in good spirits and continues light duties. This is a sensible precaution from her medics. A key event that she had to cancel was the upcoming COP26 summit. She was hosting a reception there for world leaders.

We were told on Friday that she did record a message for the reception. So she was well enough to do that. This is a situation where the palace is aware that people may be concerned about the queen's condition. But they are trying to calm nerves at the same time -- Max Foster, CNN, Hampshire.

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NEWTON: CNN has just announced the top 10 CNN heroes of 2021, each honoree will receive a cash prize and viewers will select the CNN hero of the year who will earn an additional $100,000. You get to help decide who that person will be. Here's Anderson Cooper to show you how it will be done.

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ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Now that we've announced the top 10 CNN heroes of 2021, it's time to show you how you can help decide who should be CNN hero of the year and receive $100,000 to continue their work.

Just go to cnnheroes.com, where you can learn much more about each hero. And when you're ready, just click on "vote." You get 10 votes, every day, to help support your heroes. That means you can cast all your votes for one hero or divide them among your favorites.

To confirm your vote, just log in using either your email address or your Facebook account. This year, you can even double your votes by rallying your friends on social media. Then on Sunday, December 12th, join me and my friend and co-host, Kelly Ripa, as we reveal the 2021 CNN hero of the year, live during the 15th annual CNN heroes all-star tribute.

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NEWTON: Now meet all of this year's top 10 heroes. And vote 10 times a day at cnnheroes.com. Join Anderson Cooper, as he was saying, with Kelly Ripa on Sunday, December the 12th, to see who will be named hero of the year.

Still to come, two of the largest gatherings of world leaders are about to begin in Rome and Glasgow. Our live coverage of the G20 summit and COP26 conference. That's ahead after the break.

Plus walking the balance between going green and keeping energy prices under control. Why some business leaders are cutting all funding for fossil fuels right away is a mistake.

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NEWTON: And a warm welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Paula Newton.

The G20 summit in Rome is set to get underway in about 90 minutes. The Iran nuclear deal will be on the agenda when President Biden and the leaders of France, Germany and U.K. meet on the sidelines. On Sunday, the U.S. hosts events on the supply chain crisis.

President Biden then heads to Glasgow for the COP26 conference. He spent Friday greeting the Italian hosts of this year's gathering and met one-on-one with the French president, and Pope Francis.

Despite the critical need for global action on climate change and other vital issues, the leaders of both China and Russia will not be attending in person, either at the G20 or COP26. David Culver joins us now from Shanghai.

David, good to see you. For many, whether the climate summit succeeds or fails, they say it rests largely with China.

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NEWTON: It is the world's largest emitter of carbon emissions. They have already set out a very modest goal for climate and as we just pointed out, Xi isn't even attending.

DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No handshake in person amongst him and the other leaders, Paula. I think that's the biggest concern is China is going to be the talk of much of this meeting, especially when you get into the climate aspect.

But for the G20 leaders, when you ask the question, why isn't President Xi going to be among them?

Well, Beijing doesn't give us a direct answer. They don't put a lot of details out. It could be because there is another COVID outbreak here in China, specifically affecting Beijing and the surrounding area. And for a leader to leave and then come back in, they have to do what the rest of us would have to do, which is 21 days of quarantine for the Beijing area.

So perhaps that is one reason why he is not attending. Perhaps there are others. When you are the talk of the conversation and everybody is focused and perhaps pressuring you and your country, well, maybe you don't want to be there in person. You would rather handle it one by one, over phone calls, which President Xi Jinping has been doing.

This past week, he spoke with president Macron of France, spoke with Boris Johnson yesterday of the U.K. And in that conversation, when you look at the U.K. readout of it, the focus was certainly on climate but also on global security, concerns over human rights here in China.

When you look at the Chinese side, though, the focus is on climate but they don't necessarily mentioned the human rights aspect. But they also say that the U.K. should be focusing on allowing Chinese businesses to have fair competition within the U.K.

Climate, though, continues to come out on top, Paula. And that's something that, while China is the biggest polluter, they like to look at the other countries and say, hey, we are still developing. You guys had 150 years to pollute the Earth.

We and the rest of the developing countries have done it for 30 years and are still making commitments.

Now if you think that not attending in person suggests that China will fall short on making further commitments, I think that may be an error in thinking. I think China could in fact surprise others with what they are proposing. Paula?

NEWTON: And perhaps he is holding out for that dramatic play at the end. One thing I have been curious about, David, you can let us know -- how do people in China think about the climate crisis and also the upcoming summit?

CULVER: So focus on the upcoming summit, at least when you look at state media, and that's a good indicator as to what they want the message to be across the country, it is heavily focused on unity amidst what has been an unstable time.

Certainly China has faced confrontations with pretty much every Western nation. That is something they're hoping could be souped out a bit in the G20. But climate has been huge.

It's huge because it has been emphasized going back several months now to the National Peoples Congress, where Xi said green is gold. It's not just about trying to win over some of these ecofriendly activists. It's much broader than that.

Here in China, it's about national security, securing those energy sources is huge. So they are going to make this a priority. And they already have. One thing that experts will say is that China tends to, yes, at times, underpromise.

But that can be strategic. But they will over deliver. While they're polluting more than any other nation, they are also the biggest producers of renewables, wind and solar.

They do more than the rest of the world here on a massive scale.

NEWTON: And such a great point that you make, that from old energy -- perhaps that was a strategic disadvantage for China. If this transition happens in the coming decades. As you said, again, national security interests for them. David, thanks for putting that in perspective, we will continue to lean on your analysis in the days to come. The G20 summit will set the tone for the COP26, which begins on

Sunday. Downing Street says the summit in Glasgow must mark the beginning of the end of climate change.

And COP, in case you are wondering, stands for Conference of the Parties. And this is the 26th meeting, some 30,000 people are expected to attend the 2-week conference. That includes dozens of world leaders.

Ahead of the summit we are seeing protests in cities around the world. They gathered in London, Paris and Tel Aviv on Friday to demand action on climate. The major goal of COP26 is to wean the world off of fossil fuels, of course. Right?

But the global spike in prices may make a bumpier transition to green energy. Some business leaders argue that cutting coal products may make things worse in the short term. Richard Quest has that report.

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RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Whether it's emerging markets, the Middle East or the European Union, it's the same story, energy prices are rising and with that so is public anger.

As the global economy rebounds, much stronger than perhaps expected following the COVID 19 shutdowns, energy producers can't keep up. If prices continue to go up business leaders say the results could be devastating.

STEPHEN A. SCHWARZMAN, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, BLACKSTONE: You're going to get very unhappy people around the world on the emerging markets in particular but in the developed world.

QUEST: We're seeing it at the moment in Europe.

SCHWARZMAN: That what happens then Richard, is you've got real unrest. And this challenge is the political system. And it's all utterly unnecessary.

QUEST: In many places, this crisis is already here. The cost of natural gas used for cooking and heating homes is spiraling upwards. China's facing a serious coal shortage and oil prices are at multiyear highs. Despite this energy crunch, public pressure continues over ditching fossil fuels. And that means investment is in short supply.

SCHWARZMAN: If you try and raise money to drill holes, it's almost impossible to get that money.

LARRY FINK, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, BLACKROCK: The short term policies related to environmentalism in terms of restricting supply of hydrocarbons, has created energy inflation and we're going to be living with that for some time.

QUEST: This all creates great headaches for the global leaders at the future investment initiative in Saudi Arabia. The chief executives told me it could put a major strain on the global economy.

DAVID SOLOMON, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, GOLDMAN SACHS: We need good public policy and a plan across the world to move this transition forward.

FINK: We don't have long term planning by most governments to effectuate these long term problems. We're not focusing on long-term solutions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not trying to change the world in a granular basis. We have these visions, we could go from a brown world and we could wake up tomorrow to be a green world, that is not going to happen.

QUEST: Warnings like this won't shake the resolve of climate activists as we head into COP26. Nor will they change the science of climate change and the need for countries to decarbonize. It's up to global leaders to walk that tightrope, as they try to reach a deal in Glasgow -- Richard Quest, CNN.

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NEWTON: And thanks for spending part of your day with me, I'm Paula Newton, more CNN NEWSROOM at the top of the hour. But right now it's "MARKETPLACE AFRICA."

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