‘Everyone will be watching’: US midterms cast a long shadow over Cop27

Some fear the outcome of the 8 November elections might derail US leadership on the global climate crisis

For Joe Biden, the United Nations climate summit in Egypt is the crowning stage to trumpet the US finally passing major legislation to slow dangerous global heating. But the thoughts of the US president and delegates from around the world are likely to nervously flit to events 6,000 miles (9,65km) away - knife-edge midterm elections back in America.

The climate talks, known as Cop27, begin in earnest on Monday when more than 90 heads of state convene in Sharm el-Sheikh amid warnings from scientists that the world is heading towards disastrous climate breakdown without further, deeper cuts in planet-heating emissions. Antonio Guterres, secretary general of the UN, has warned governments heading to Egypt that they face economy-destroying levels of global heating" and that their efforts to stem this disaster were falling pitifully short".