BackBiden says climate efforts 'more urgent than ever' at summit
US President Joe Biden urged global leaders to “double down” on their resolve to fight global warming
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President Joe Biden, speaking Friday at an annual international summit on climate change, urged world leaders to “double down" on their resolve to fight global warming, saying Russia's invasion of Ukraine reinforces the need to phase out fossil fuels.
“We can no longer plead ignorance to the consequences of our actions, or continue to repeat our mistakes," Biden said.
The president's brief attendance at the United Nations climate conference, known as COP27, was largely a victory lap as he emphasized new spending on clean energy initiatives that will “change the paradigm" for the United States and the rest of the world.
But Biden glossed over how he's pushed for more oil and gas production to bring down costs that have been politically troublesome at home, and fueled the invasion of Ukraine by allowing Russia to fetch higher prices for its energy exports.
“This gathering must be the moment to recommit our future and our shared capacity to write a better story for the world," Biden said.
Biden spent just three hours in Egypt, including a meeting with the country's autocratic leader, President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, before continuing on an around-the-world trip. His next stop was Cambodia for a meeting of Southeast Asian leaders and then Indonesia for the annual Group of 20 summit of the world’s largest economies.
Biden left Washington late Thursday buoyed by a stronger-than-expected showing by the Democratic Party in Tuesday's midterm elections, earlier congressional passage of the largest climate investment in U.S. history and Russian military setbacks on the Ukrainian battlefield.
At the climate conference, Biden discussed a new supplemental rule that will crack down on methane emissions, expanding on a similar regulation his administration released last year. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that contributes significantly to global warming.
Biden also spotlighted one of his key domestic successes — the Democrats’ massive health care and climate change bill known as the Inflation Reduction Act.
The U.S. commitment of some $375 billion over a decade to fight climate change gives Biden greater leverage to press other nations to fulfill their pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and shift the global economy toward cleaner energy sources.
“The United States government is putting our money where our mouth is," he said.
Biden said the spending, part of broader economic legislation he signed into law this year, will ensure the U.S. hits its target for reducing emissions by 2030.
The president was in a far different position from last year’s gathering, which came about during a particularly unhappy stretch in the bill’s tortuous path to passage.
That summit resulted in additional global commitments to meet temperature targets agreed to in the Paris Climate Accord, which Biden rejoined after his predecessor, Donald Trump, pulled the U.S. from the deal.
“It’s a very good sign that President Biden is coming to this COP (summit)," said German special envoy Jennifer Morgan. “I think it reassures countries, people that the United States at the highest level takes this issue incredibly seriously. And we need that. "
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This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.
