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CNN International: World Leaders Gather for COP27 Summit in Egypt; Russian Forces Reported Suffer heavy Losses in Donetsk; Republicans Optimistic About Winning House and Senate; Fetterman Sues Over Rejected Pennsylvania Ballots; South Africa's Energy Dilemma Amid Coal Dependence. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired November 08, 2022 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and warm welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world, I am Bianca Nobilo.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Max Foster live from London. Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are on a highway to climate hell, with our foot still on the accelerator.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a choice to continue this pattern of destructive behavior.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There are more than 300 election deniers running on the Republican ticket this year.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Every freedom loving America needs to understand the time to stand up to this growing left-wing tyranny is right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a planned assassination attempt, and we knew about it. Most people are appalled by what is going on in this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo.

FOSTER: It is Tuesday, November than eight 9 a.m. here in London, 11 a.m. in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt where world leaders are meeting to renew our commitment to our planet's the climate crisis. But as Russia's war on Ukraine impacts global energy and food shortages, this year more than just climate is on the agenda.

NOBILO: And critics say that previous summits have been all talking no action. And on Monday the EU chief told CNN's Becky Anderson that more needs to be done.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

URSULA VON DER LEYEN, PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN COMMISSION: It is wrong, we have to do more. Europe is doing its fair share $23 billion or Euros. We've said we're going to pledge that last year, we did it. And we're going to give more than 23 billion euros this year, too. But you're right. I mean, there's still a gap. And this gap has to be filled.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Now other European leaders say they won't sacrifice their commitments despite Russia's empty threats. In Germany is vowing to increase its contribution to to the climate fund to $6 billion by 2025.

NOBILO: But despite all these promises, this year alone, we've seen some of the worst consequences of climate change. In Pakistan, thousands of people were displaced with historic flooding and in Africa, many nations like Kenya are still experiencing record drought, leading to famine. Meanwhile, the U.N. Secretary-General warned of those consequences.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONIO GUTERRES U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: And the clock is ticking. We are in the fight of our lives, and we are losing. Greenhouse gas emissions keep growing, global temperatures keep rising. And our planet is fast approaching tipping point that will make chaos irreversible. We are a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: CNN David McKenzie joins us now from Sham el-Sheikh in Egypt. And David, one of the main issues that's been tackled at this summit is the wildly disproportionate burden that falls on developing nations who are not responsible really at all for the disastrous consequences of climate change but have to deal with all of the issues that arise from it. What can we expect in terms of compensation and support?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right Bianca. Africa alone accounts for less than 4 percent of all emissions, and yet you see these populations in eastern horn of Africa, you had the flooding in Nigeria earlier this year, as well in Durban in South Africa. The impact of climate change are being felt by the most vulnerable in the most terrible way. And the burden of that will fall on them, though historically so little of emissions were caused by developing nations. So, there is that disconnect, and you can hear the frustration in the Kenyan president's speech where he said more needs to be done. More concrete action needs to be taken.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM RUTO, KENYAN PRESIDENT: The lengthy discussions at COPs with its stalling, delaying tactics and procrastination that have hampered implementation and delivery is simply cruel and unjust.

[04:05:00]

We cannot afford to spend more time skirting around the real issues, and we must break out of the open-ended process focused discussions we are trapped in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKENZIE: On practical terms, what the developing nations are asking for, Bianca, is a lot of money. Trillions of dollars to help them adapt to climate change and also for what is called loss and damage. The fact that the world isn't going to meet those targets, people are going to be affected and they already are, and there needs to be money to make their lives livable -- Bianca, Max.

FOSTER: In terms of the pressure on which countries in the developing world should be contributing the most, I noticed that Emmanuel Macron asked the U.S. and China effectively to do more. Is that a narrative here that there is some division between the developing nations as well, the developed nations?

MCKENZIE: I think that is right. Very much so, Max. You know, U.S. and China are the biggest polluters both historically and currently, the problem is they are not talking. Since the third in line to the presidency, Nancy Pelosi, visited Taiwan there's been a deep freeze in U.S. China relations. So, we'll have to see if they actually cooperate. And the deep cuts that are needed are even worse the legislation that the Congress passed earlier this year and moves by China to become net zero. It's not enough. And also, there's the leadership factor. Other nations want to see that China and the U.S. is doing enough, and they can ride on their coattails.

And hanging over all of this, as you already described, is the war in Ukraine. There is a move, particularly from Europe, to find energy elsewhere, and despite what the head of the EU told Becky Anderson, many nations are looking to Africa and other developing nations to buttress their fossil fuel needs. Activists and U.N. experts say, well, you need to actually start moving away from fossil fuels if you are to cut emissions enough for our future planet. But right now, it seems that addiction is nowhere near being ended -- Max, Bianca.

FOSTER: David McKenzie in Sharm el-Sheikh, thank you very much indeed.

In the past week, the Russian military appears to have suffered some of its biggest losses since during the war in Ukraine. Notably, an elite Russian Marine unit reports as many as 300 troops killed, wounded or missing after a failed offensive to secure supply lines southwest of the Donetsk region.

NOBILO: Elsewhere it seems many new recruits are among the dead, part of a Russian mobilization of more than 300,000 conscripts. 50,000 of them are currently fighting in Ukraine, which so far has not resulted in Russia gaining any new territory. Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, referred to the intense fighting in Donetsk in his nightly address.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The Donetsk region remains the epicenter of the greatest madness of the occupiers. Hundreds die daily. The ground before the Ukrainian positions is littered with bodies of the occupiers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Meanwhile, U.S. officials are urging their Ukrainian counterparts to soften their declared position, but no negotiations with Vladimir Putin. A source close to this discussion says the White House is not trying to pressure Kyiv into peace talks, but rather is worried that a war without the possibility of a negotiated end would lose public support.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NED PRICE, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: No one has suffered more than the Ukrainian people. No one wants to see this war and more than the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian government. So, it is neither our place for us to pressure the Ukrainians, nor would we need to do such a thing. They have every incentive. It is the Russians that are sending a very different single.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: For more on all of this let's bring in CNN's Salma Abdelaziz in Kyiv, in Ukraine and also Clare Sebastian is here in London. The idea of a negotiated peace, Salma, is something that won't be necessarily welcome, I assume where you are. That would mean giving up some territory in their minds.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well for President Zelenskyy, that's absolutely not a negotiating point at all. He has vowed to take back all Ukrainian lands. He's promised this counteroffensive that has been highly successful in the last few weeks and months in gaining back territory. He's made very clear that he has no interest whatsoever in discussing any Ukrainian land being conceded to Russia. And he's gone even further after that, the illegal annexation of those four region of Ukraine, President Zelenskyy said that he has no negotiations to have it all with President Putin. That he would talk to the next leader of Russia.

But of course, you're hearing these backdoor channels with the U.S., other allies wanting some reassurance that there would come an end to this conflict.

We did see a few days ago that the national security adviser of the United States, Jake Sullivan, he was here and he was asked that question about peace negotiations and his answer was, there will be no talks of Ukraine without Ukraine.

[04:10:00]

So yes, of course, there is this hope to end the conflict, but you very much have this counteroffensive still going and Presidents Zelenskyy who's made it very clear, Ukrainian land is Ukrainian land -- Max.

FOSTER: Salma, thank you.

NOBILO: And Clare, we were just talking about the reports of Russian casualties as, you know, part of this mobilization effort that they've got all these new people to join the effort in the war. First of all, how can those be confirmed, because Russia rarely comes forward to actually certify that this has happen. And what's the impact of that on morale and further mobilizing the Russian population?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not great. In terms of confirmation, this is not coming directly from the Russian Ministry of Defense, this is coming from the likes of military bloggers, from the Ukrainian side. And one particularly striking episode there is a letter that it was apparently sent -- according to a Russian military there on the front -- men on the front lines and one brigade to their regional governor in the far east of Russia, saying that they had sustained massive losses losing 300 men, about 50 percent of equipment, and calling the battle in Donetsk incomprehensible. So, we haven't been able to confirm that independently.

Zelenskyy talked about another episode where troops on the ground, Russian troops are complaining to their own regional governor. So, it seems that morale is low. We think that has been low, frankly, from the beginning of this conflict. And I think a telling sign as to how the mobilization is affecting this is that Putin signed a decree over the weekend saying that they could enlist criminals, essentially. People convicted of things, including murder, into the battlefield. They had previously been exempt. So, you get a sense that they're not looking for some trained people to sort of come in, they're really just looking for a way to sustain this conflict as long as possible. This grinding battle that we see so clearly happening in the eastern Ukraine right now.

FOSTER: Do you think the Ukrainians on the Russians are looking at what might come out of the American election, and wondering if that is going to change the American view, and therefore, you know, a different administration of some kind of a different balance of power might push for an end to the war sooner and talk sooner?

SEBASTIAN: Yes, I think obviously there looking (INAUDIBLE) to come out of U.S. election. The sense that has been presented in the U.S. is that the Republicans, if they take the House, might be less willing to sort of promise open-ended support for Ukraine. Kevin McCarthy, the U.S. House minority leader, has said that he doesn't want to blank check. That he wants some accountability going forward.

I think it's interesting looking at that in the context of these reports coming out that U.S. officials have been asking Ukraine to sort of shift its posture when it comes to negotiations. So, to not rule them out essentially. Because that might increase the likelihood that a future Republican-led House in the U.S. might be willing to signal support if it doesn't look like it's quite so open-ended. Obviously, Russia perhaps would prefer the Republicans to take the House because then perhaps less support for Ukraine, which is something they've consistently railed against. FOSTER: OK, Clare, thank you very much indeed.

Well, it is election day alas in America. Republicans are confident they can win both the control of, well, both Houses -- controlling both Houses actually. Democrats are on the defensive, even in traditionally blue states, thanks to growing inflation, rising crime, and Joe Biden's low approval rating.

NOBILO: Republicans have the best chance in the House of Representatives. A GOP victory would bring an end to Nancy Pelosi's turn as Speaker, a role that would most likely go to Republican Kevin McCarthy. Things are a bit more competitive in the Senate, where Republicans will take control if they can flip just one seat. These are the states to keep an eye on.

FOSTER: U.S. President Joe Biden spent election eve in Maryland, campaigning for Democrat Wes Moore, who's poised to become the state's first black governor. The campaigner and chief hasn't had the strongest economic message which voters overwhelmingly say is their number one concern. Instead, he's been focusing on election deniers and their threat to democracy if Republicans win.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Folks, there are more than 300 election deniers running on the Republican ticket this year. And Wes's opponent is one of them. These election deniers are not only trying to deny you your right vote to vote but trying to deny you your right to have your vote counted. With this election, these deniers, there's only two outcomes in their view of the election. One, either they win or they were cheated. One of the two, that's their view. But let me tell you something, you can't only love your country when you win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: And our Athena Jones joins us now. She is in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Athena, can you tell us the latest. Obviously, this has been a hotly contested race, and we've been talking about it every day. But Fetterman has spoken out about mail-in ballots. What's he saying?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Bianco, that's exactly right.

[04:15:00]

This is a very closely watched race, one of the most competitive Senate races in the country and every single vote is going to matter here. That is what we are hearing from both candidates in their closing days.

John Fetterman, the Democrat running for Senate here, is joined with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to sue Pennsylvania election officials over the issue of mail-in ballots. That is because under Pennsylvania law, those when your mailing in a ballot, you have to sign and date the outside envelope. And so, there's been an issue now, this has been sort of litigated for months, over the issue of what if the envelope is dated, has the wrong date on it? What if it it's updated at all, should those ballots still be counted?

Now, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court last week ruled that election officials cannot count those undated ballots. In this lawsuit, Fetterman argues that the Federal Civil Rights Act prohibits this sort of thing. It prohibits denying a voter the right to vote, because of an omission or an error that is not material to whether they are qualified to vote. They argue that this law, it's something that has no relevance to whether these voters are qualified.

And they are not the only ones bringing a court case here. Like I said, this is an issue that has been battled over for several months and has been argued about on both sides for the last couple of years ever since these new voting measures came in. But also, you see the branches of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, that is an African American civil rights organization, and the League of Women Voters are also bringing a suit against officials over this same issue of undated ballots. Saying that it is a violation of federal civil rights and it's a meaningless technicality.

This is important because Pennsylvania has already seen more than a million mail-in ballots cast, that's more than 20 percent of the total vote back in 2018. And we know that there is been issues in the past with ballots and with errors. Some of these issues, these undated unsigned ballots, they've been able to resolve them. The counties are reaching out to the voters. But they are going to run out of time to do that, and that is why you're seeing the Fetterman campaign and these other groups pushing to try to make sure that these ballots can be counted in a race that could end up being very, very close -- Bianca, Max.

FOSTER: Thank you. We're going to speak to Melanie Zanona, she's live this hour in Columbus, Ohio. You've been following President Joe Biden, haven't you. And he's focusing on what President Trump, of course. He's been focusing, you know, on these local elections, but a lot of people suggesting that it's about the much bigger campaign ahead of him. How is he speaking to a potential presidential campaign in the context of these midterms?

MELANIE ZANONA, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: Well, the former president rallied here last night in Ohio. My colleagues, Kaitlan Collins and others reported that he's actually considering announcing a presidential bid for 2024. But I talked to a number of Republicans who have been trying to convince Trump all election season not to announce before the midterms. They did not want this to be a distraction, they want to focus to be squarely on winning the House and the Senate.

It appears that they had to keep that pressure campaign up last night, but they're able to convince Trump not to announce. But he did tease the idea that he is going to make a, quote, special announcement on November 15th, so we will be looking out for that. He said that he did not want to, distract you want to keep it about the candidates. And he was here campaigning for one of the Senate Republican candidates who is vying to fill the open seat here in Ohio. It has been a closer than expected race though, it is a red state, it went for Trump in 2022, but Republicans have to spend here. Because the Democrat Tim Ryan, a congressman who's really kept it competitive, he is leaned into an economic populist message. And so, we'll see whether the Trump effect is enough to keep J.D. Vance edge.

FOSTER: It will be. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out. Melanie Zanona, also Athena Jones there, thank you very much indeed.

NOBILO: And despite big plans and high hopes at COP27, developing countries are nowhere near a switch to renewable energy. We'll take a look at why South Africa can't give up coal.

FOSTER: And former Prime Minister of Pakistan is accusing the country's Prime Minister and other senior officials of what he calls an assassination attempt on his life. We'll have the details.

[04:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RISHI SUNAK, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Climate security goes hand in hand with energy security. Putin's abhorrent war in Ukraine and rising energy prices across the world are not a reason to go slow on climate change. They are a reason to act faster. Because diversifying our energy supplies by investing in renewables is precisely the way to ensure ourselves against the risks of energy dependency.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: European leaders are saying they will keep their commitment to battle climate change, despite Moscow's energy threats and Egypt the COP27 host nation is urging them to keep their word. CNN's Becky Anderson spoke with the Egyptian foreign minister.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAMEH SHOUKRY, EGYPTIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: We want to see a clear commitment towards more reduction of greenhouse gases, more reduction of emissions, more recognition of the importance of adaptation for developing countries, and the provision of a finance to enable developing countries to undertake the responsibilities.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR, CONNECT THE WORLD: Do you worry that the world's which assist our backtracking?

SHOUKRY: Absolutely. It's a worry for any of the parties of the conference to backtrack. And certainly, those in the developed world who have the resources, who have the resilience, to be backtracking would send a devastating message and would have a very negative impact on the issue of trust. And the issue of trust is an important one, where there's a feeling of commonality and we are all in this together and must shoulder the responsibilities. Differentiate the responsibilities.

ANDERSON: You have talked about the issue of funding arrangements, specifically for developing nation under what's known as a loss and damage. Now last year, high income, rich countries, blocked a proposal for a financing body under that scheme. How can you be sure that that won't happen again this year?

SHOUKRY: Well, I think what we have achieved, after 30 years of discussion of this item, during this COP after very strenuous negotiations that the presidency team lead, to incorporate on the agenda an item related to loss and damage, in itself an achievement. But we are not going to limit ourselves to that.

But we also need to be practical. This is an issue of sensitivity and complexity, and we will be confident to move it ahead in terms of discussion and within a specific timeframe that the parties can come to an understanding on the finance mechanisms that would provide the assistance to developing countries when it comes to loss and damage.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Becky Anderson, sitting down with the COP27's summit president. You can catch the rest of that interview on "CONNECT THE WORLD," in just a few hours' time.

NOBILO: Lost in damage finance could help the global south transition to renewable energy sources. The need is obvious in South Africa, where the economy is hooked on coal. CNN's Eleni Giokos reports.

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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A community living in the shadows of power lines with no access to the electricity that towers above them, water that arrives in trucks and using coal as their main source of energy.

MARTHA, EMALAHLENI RESIDENT: Is another way you can do anything, paraffin, it's expensive. Gas is expensive.

GIOKOS (voice over): For Martha, everything comes from this cold stove, their food, heat, and the dirty air they breathe.

MARTHA: Well, some of them they have got TB and asthma because we're using this.

GIOKOS (voice over): Her home, a microcosm of South Africa's dilemma, an abundance of coal and the most unequal country in the world that's dealing with a crippling power crisis 34 percent unemployment with the potential of cleaner sources of energy. For many like Martha living here, the thought of abandoning coal means more economic hardship.

MARTHA: Going to be paid. I don't want to lie. Many people have lost their jobs because of those contracts.

GIOKOS (voice over): We're in Witbank, known as Emalahleni. It means the place of coal in the Nguni language. This is also where I grew up. Mining has been going on here since 1890. Greenpeace says it's the most polluted place on earth. The Mpumalanga province has the world's highest nitrogen dioxide levels.

GIOKOS: I wish you could smell this. It's sulfur, its rotten egg. This is how you know you've arrived in Witbank.

GIOKOS (voice over): My first stop the National Union of Mineworkers officers.

MALEKUTU BIZZAH MOTUBATSE, HIGHVELD CHAIRPERSON, NATIONAL UNION OF MINEWORKERS: We can say 80 percent if not 90 are working at their mines.

GIOKOS (voice over): 90 percent of South Africans electricity comes from coal. The majority of power stations and mines are here in Mpumalanga. Now, the wheels of change are turning. During COP26, South Africa committed to transitioning away from coal. The country's Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy has an ominous warning for the fate of 10 towns.

GWADE MANTASHE, SOUTH AFRICAN MINISTER OF MINERAL RESOURCES AND ENERGY: Those are the homes of the coal mining dealt with, which is the home of a number of politicians and if you can just turn it off once. That means you've got a coal region.

GIOKOS: It is the end of an era for Komati power station that was built in the early 1960s. And it is the first of South Africa's aging coal fired power plants to be decommissioned. By the time you see this, it'll be completely switched off.

ANGEL MOKWENA, DAUGHTER OF KOMATI EMPLOYEE: My dad works at the Eskom.

GIOKOS (voice over): Angel Mokwena is dealing with the uncertainty firsthand.

GIOKOS: How does it feel that your father might lose his job? Are you scared?

MOKWENA: If he doesn't work, who's going to provide for us?

GIOKOS (voice over): As Komati employees leave the plant on its final days, they do so knowing they will also be left jobless.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When Eskom is closed, everything is finished.

GIOKOS (voice over): Eskom is repurposing Komati to solar and wind with no start date announced.

GIOKOS: Just transition, do you understand what that means?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no. I don't understand.

GIOKOS: They didn't tell you at the mines, the Eskom --.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, not anyone came.

GIOKOS: Do you know that the coal mining industry is going to be over?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, we didn't know.

GIOKOS: Do you understand that South Africa's trying to transition out of coal?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I haven't heard anything yet.

GIOKOS (voice over): The West hypocrisy when it comes to re-firing up coal plants because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine hasn't gone unnoticed.

KOPI MATSHASHA, NUM BRANCH CHAIR, MIDDLEBURG MINE COLLIERY: We are foreign to clean energy. But we are saying it is premature for us to move to clean energy.

GIOKOS (voice over): The people living here face a stark future. They can literally smell taste and touch the danger all around them. But can they survive if it is taken away?

Eleni Giokos, CNN, Emalahleni, South Africa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

And coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, the tale of two Americans. Republicans want today's election to be about the soaring cost of living, but the Democrats say something is bigger is at stake, and that is democracy.

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