On his first day in office, President Biden recommitted the United States to the Paris Agreement, stating in his inauguration speech that “the cry for survival comes from the earth itself.” A cry that is desperate or can’t be clarified any more. “
He promised to focus on the climate crisis not only domestically but also abroad. As the world’s largest historic emitter of pollution that is dangerously warming the planet, he said the United States will reduce its emissions and lead the way to a safer future.
But 18 months after his administration, Mr Biden’s domestic climate agenda is at a loss. And his weakened position within the country makes it difficult for the United States to convince other nations to follow that direction in the fight to curb rising heat, drought, and storms that threaten all nations.
“When Biden took office, the world sighed with relief,” said Ani Dasgupta, CEO of the World Resources Institute. “It didn’t work that way.”
Due to the split parliament and opposition within his own party, Mr Biden was unable to obtain his most desirable tool for reducing pollution.
The war in Ukraine has rekindled global demand for fossil fuels, causing domestic political problems for Mr. Byden in the form of record gas prices, and more of his Republican critics and fossil fuel industry. , Opened the door to demand less gas and oil drilling.
And on Thursday, in the latest blow to Mr. Biden’s climate plan, the Supreme Court issued a ruling limiting the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency to limit carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.
These setbacks make it nearly impossible for Biden to reach his goal of cutting emissions from the United States by about half by 2030. And it becomes difficult for the United States to convince other countries to do the same.
Sallymur Haku, director of the International Center for Climate Change and Development in Bangladesh, said: “It’s a shame that the United States cannot take leadership.”
Even when Mr. Biden’s domestic climate agenda is facing problems, his climate envoy, John Kelly, will move quickly away from fossil fuels ahead of the next global climate negotiations known as COP27. Continues to traverse the world in an attempt to convince other countries. In Egypt this November.
“John Kerry is traveling around the world saying all the right things, but he can’t get them to the United States,” Huq said. “When he comes and preaches to everyone else, he loses trust.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, through a spokesman, called on the Supreme Court to rule “a retreat in the fight against climate change when it is not already well on track to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement.” Under that agreement, nearly 200 countries have promised to reduce pollution to keep global warming “much lower” than 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels. Scientists say that when warming exceeds 1.5 degrees Celsius, the potential for catastrophic climate impacts increases significantly.
The Earth has already risen by an average of about 1.1 degrees Celsius, and global emissions continue to grow. In 2021, humans burned enough oil, gas and coal to emit 36 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, more than the previous year.
The Supreme Court’s decision came at a week-long meeting between President Biden and his European allies, the leaders of a group of seven countries in the Bavarian Alps, and the NATO members of Spain. At each meeting, leaders renewed their commitment to strong climate change measures. However, immediate emission cuts lag behind efforts to strengthen energy supplies across the continent and alleviate the pain of war-induced oil and gas price hikes.
Many of Biden’s counterparts find themselves struggling for leadership authority on climate issues as well.
The European Commission in May Drastic plan Move to renewable energy. However, after closing nuclear power plants and putting pressure on Russia’s dependence on gas, Germany aims to increase imports of liquefied natural gas.Germany, Austria and the Netherlands Temporarily increase coal-fired power generation.
“What we have seen is that high oil and gas prices and reduced supply have, to some extent, led some countries to return to coal,” said NATO Secretary General Jens. Stoltenberg said in a special session. Climate of the Madrid Summit. “It’s bad for the climate, but of course it reflects the desperate situation they are in.”
The United States plays a major role in the global effort to combat climate change.
It produces more greenhouse gases than any other country and is home to many oil and gas companies that have been working on climate change for decades. Americans use far more energy per capita than people in other countries, and this trend shows no sign of slowdown. And climate change has become a partisan issue, with most elected Republicans questioning the need to reduce emissions rapidly.
Nevertheless, the United States has played an important role in mobilizing international assistance to combat climate change for the past three decades.
Since 1992, signing the first global climate treaty known as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the President and Diplomats of the United States have unified international efforts to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. We have been instrumental in shaping our approach.
Sarah Radislow, Managing Director of the Rocky Mountain Institute, a non-profit research group specializing in energy efficiency, said: “It is also an important thinker about the strategy behind how to support those commitments.”
Still, US policy is inconsistent, democratic governments are calling for stronger climate change measures, and Republican governments often recede from the very commitment that their predecessors helped design.
Under President Bill Clinton, the United States assisted in the design of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. Under this protocol, dozens of countries have agreed to reduce the levels of seven greenhouse gases. A few years later, President George W. Bush left.
The same dynamics have been repeated recently.
In 2014, the Obama administration announced that the United States and China would work together to tackle climate change, albeit at a different pace. The following year, major economies and developing countries jointly signed the Paris Agreement, which promised to combat climate change.
Then, under President Donald J. Trump, the United States became the only country to withdraw from the Paris Agreement.
Rachel Kyte, Dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, said:
When Biden took office last year, he reappointed the United States to climate diplomacy, appointed Kelly as the first presidential climate envoy, and Glasgow to call on other world leaders to take action at the United Nations Climate Conference in November. Flew to.
In Glasgow, the United States helped secure several new initiatives to support global warming efforts. This includes the Global Energy Alliance, the Global Finance Alliance, and pledges to reduce methane emissions from more than 100 countries.
Raj Shah, Chief Executive Officer of The Rockefeller Foundation and Head of USAID under President Obama, said: “It applies to the food crisis and also to the climate.”
“There are so many dramatic recessions when it comes to climate change issues that the aspect of international diplomacy is one aspect that gives me hope,” Shah added. “All of this is creating real momentum.”
Understand the Supreme Court’s EPA decision
An important decision. The Supreme Court ruled limiting the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate carbon emissions from power plants, damaging the Biden administration’s efforts to combat climate change. Here’s what you need to know:
Recently, the Biden administration has formed a partnership between the public and private sectors to encourage large companies to purchase more environmentally friendly versions of products such as aluminum and steel that cause large emissions. We are working on development.
But after the last six years of policy whiplash, other countries in the world are nervously watching after the fall midterm elections.
“There is a great deal of existential fear of becoming another Trump administration or a president like the Trump administration,” Kyte said. “It really weighs heavily on other parts of the world.”
Ramon Cruz, president of the Sierra Club, said the prescription for regaining American leadership was clear.
“The United States can maintain the credibility that President Biden tried to rebuild if his administration and Democrats in Congress fulfill their climate promises,” he said. “President Biden needs to use all the tools at his disposal to deal with the climate crisis and show the world that the United States is a leader.”
Scientists are issuing increasingly dire warnings about the risk of continuing to burn fossil fuels, and extreme weather events, heat waves, fires, droughts, and rapid changes in climate are unleashing waves of human suffering around the world. ..
“New funding for fossil fuel exploration and production infrastructure is delusional,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres. I have written This week on Twitter. “Fossil fuels are not the answer. They are renewable energies.”
But so far, despite its high commitment, major developed countries, including the United States and European countries, have taken swift action as scientists say they need to avoid the worst effects of climate change. It shows little ability to take.
“The whole world is like an addict who is crazy about fossil fuels,” Huq said. “Now the Russians have stopped it, so instead of pulling it apart, they are trying to find it elsewhere. Retreat, not forward.”
Jim Tankasley Contributed to the report from Madrid,
Lisa Friedman Report that contributed.