At the U.N. climate conference in Egypt on Friday, President Joe Biden pledged that the United States will “do our part” in order to avoid a “climate hell,” while warning the world that other countries must step up to the plate as well.
“Today, finally, I can stand here as President of the United States and say with confidence the United States of America will meet our emissions targets by 2030,” Biden said, later adding: “The United States has acted. Everyone has to act.”
“The climate crisis is about human security, economic security, environmental security, national security and the very life of the planet,” Biden said, noting that science has made it “devastatingly clear” that the world must make progress in its fight against climate change.
“We have to make vital progress by the end of this decade,” Biden added.
Biden’s attendance Friday at COP27, located in the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, is the first stop on an around-the-world trip that will also take him to a meeting of Southeast Asian leaders in Cambodia and a Group of 20 summit meeting for leaders of the world’s largest economies in Bali, Indonesia.
The president traveled to Egypt buoyed by a stronger-than-expected showing by the Democratic Party in Tuesday’s midterm elections, congressional passage this year 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 coming Friday that cracks down on methane emissions, a measure that expands on a similar regulation his administration released last year.
The 2021 rule targeted emissions of methane — a potent greenhouse gas that contributes significantly to global warming — from existing oil and gas wells nationwide, rather than focusing only on new wells as previous Environmental Protection Agency regulations have done. But this year’s rule goes a step further and takes aim at all drilling sites, including smaller wells that emit less than 3 tons of methane per year.
He also spotlighted spotlight 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 make good on their pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and transition the global economy toward cleaner energy sources.
Biden touted his ironclad commitment to fighting climate change, which he said dates back to the 1980s.
“I introduced the first piece of climate legislation in the United States Senate way back in 1986 36 years ago,” Biden said. “My commitment to this issue has been unwavering.”
That summit resulted in additional global commitments to meet the temperature targets agreed to in the Paris Climate Accord, which Biden rejoined after his predecessor, Donald Trump, pulled the U.S. from the deal.
In his remarks, Biden also made the case case that “good climate policy is good economic policy,” while calling on all major emitting countries to “align their ambition” to the international goal of trying to limit future global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius – 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit.
Biden also announced $150 million to “specifically support prepares adaptation efforts throughout Africa, including adaptation in Africa,” a joint effort launched by the U.S. and Egypt.
“This includes support for expanding early warning system to help cover Africa, broadening access to climate finance, providing disaster risk protection, strengthening food security, mobilizing the private sector and supporting new training center in Egypt, to accelerate adaptation across the efforts all across the continent,” he explained.
Biden also attempted to deliver a message of optimism to the crowd, which was met with a standing ovation.
“Let’s reach out and take the future in our hands, and make the world we wish to see, that we know we need,” Biden said. “A planet preserved for generations to come. An economy powered by clean, diversified, secure energy sources. Opportunities unlocked, through innovation and cooperation, to deliver equitable, more prosperous, more stable and more just world for our children.”
“That’s why we’re here,” Biden concluded. “That is what we’re working toward. And we can do it together, I am confident.”
Speaking at the COP27 summit Wednesday, former U.S. vice president and climate activist Al Gore called Biden a “climate hero in my book,” adding that “the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act represents the most significant pro-climate legislation ever passed by any nation in all of history.”
Global eagerness for shifting away from fossil fuels has been tempered by the roiling of world energy markets after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Against this backdrop, it’s more urgent than ever that we double down on our climate commitments,” Biden said, before warning that a country using energy as leverage “has to stop.”
At home and abroad, Biden is pressing oil and gas producers to boost production to meet demand and bring down prices that have funded the Kremlin’s war effort.
Prospects for a significant breakthrough are further dampened as major emitters such as China and India are sending less-senior delegations. Biden administration officials have tried to lower expectations for results at the meeting and instead cast it as a return to U.S. leadership on the issue.
Biden leaves Washington with votes still being tallied in key races that will determine control of both chambers of Congress. Still, the president was feeling the wind at his back as Democrats performed stronger than expected. He was likely to learn the results of the races that will sharply impact his ability to get things done in Washington while he was overseas.
Meanwhile, Trump appeared set to announce another bid for the White House while Biden was in Asia, a contrast the incumbent’s advisers felt would only benefit Biden.
While in Egypt, Biden also held a bilateral meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, where they are to discuss the two nations’ strategic partnership, the Israel-Palestinian conflict and regional security issues.
Egypt’s foreign minister Sameh Shoukry told The Associated Press on Thursday that he understood Biden’s visit in Sharm el-Sheikh to be “an indication of the political will to move the process forward” on tackling global warming.
“We hope … it will resonate within the collective will of the negotiating groups that the United States is party to, but also in creating a momentum for the conference, for the parties to deliver what is expected,” he said.
After his brief stop in Egypt, Biden will continue on to Cambodia for a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to reinforce the U.S. commitment to the region in the face of China’s increasing assertiveness.
And then, in Indonesia, Biden is set to hold his first sitdown as president with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who was awarded a norm-breaking third, five-year term as the Chinese Communist Party leader during the party’s national congress last month amid increasingly strained U.S.-China relations.
The White House has been working with Chinese officials over the last several weeks to arrange the meeting. Biden on Wednesday told reporters that he intended to discuss with Xi growing tensions between Washington and Beijing over the self-ruled island of Taiwan, trade policies, Beijing’s relationship with Russia and more.
“What I want to do with him when we talk is lay out what each of our red lines are and understand what he believes to be in the critical national interests of China, what I know to be the critical interests of the United States,” Biden said. “And determine whether or not they conflict with one another.”
Biden will also aim to demonstrate global resolve to stand up to Russia over its invasion of Ukraine and meet with two critical new partners in the effort to support Ukraine’s defense: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni. President Vladimir Putin announced Thursday that he was skipping the gatherings, averting a potentially awkward encounter. Sullivan said Biden has no plans to interact with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who is attending in Putin’s stead.
In Cambodia, Biden will also discuss North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs in a trilateral meeting with leaders of South Korea and Japan.
