Republicans’ Cop26 hopes undermined by colleagues’ climate disdain

Delegation aims to portray party as engaged even as Republicans back home have downplayed and dismissed climate change

A handful of Republican members of Congress have arrived at the UN climate talks in Glasgow in an attempt to portray the party as engaged on the climate crisis, with this message already badly undermined by colleagues back in the US who have downplayed and even dismissed the impacts of global heating during the summit.

A delegation of five Republican lawmakers arrived at the talks, known as Cop26, on the weekend and will depart on Tuesday. Garret Graves, a Louisiana Republican, said that the politicians were not going there just to drink" and will hold a number of meetings to stress a different approach to climate change than Joe Biden.