President Joe Biden on Tuesday closed out his week-long trip to Europe and visit to the U.N. Climate Change Conference by doubling down on the U.S. commitment to be a leader in the global fight against climate change and applauding progress made in just the start of the gathering, even as a major piece of his climate agenda faces a rocky path at home.
He ended his two days in Scotland by speaking to U.S. reporters, after making a series of pledges at the Glasgow conference that included plans to reduce methane emissions and conserve forests to a flurry of other efforts to reach a net-zero emissions goal by 2050 and preventing further global warming.
Asked why the U.S. should pour so much funding into climate initiatives without the same commitments from large countries like Russia and China — whose leaders did not attend the conference this week — President Biden said the U.S. had a responsibility to do so.
“We want to be able to breathe. And we want to be able to lead the world,” he answered. “America showed up. America showed up and decided to lead and laid out clearly what it wished to do.”
“The vast majority [of world leaders] think this is an opportunity,” he added. “They know that growth rests in dealing with the economy in a way that affects the whole notion of what we’re going to do about climate change. It’s a gigantic opportunity.”
At the same time, he’s facing a roadblock to his own commitments as coal-state U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin has again threatened Biden’s domestic effort. For all the optimism Biden has been radiating at the summit in Scotland, persistent doubts lurk about whether he can deliver solely through executive actions as continued talks with Congress have steadily cut into his ambitions.
Manchin said Monday, at an unfortunate time for the president, that he remained undecided on Biden’s $1.75 trillion domestic policy proposal, which includes $555 billion in provisions to combat climate change.
Manchin holds a key vote in the Senate, where Biden has the slimmest of Democratic majorities, and has successively killed off key parts of the administration’s climate proposals. He said Monday he was uncertain about the legislation’s impact on the economy and federal debt and was as “open to voting against” it as for it.
Biden minimized Manchin’s objections on Tuesday, saying of the senator, “He will vote for this” and “I believe that Joe will be there.”
The president also responded to skeptics outside the Glasgow conference center this week, including the well-known, 18-year-old activist Greta Thunberg, who speaking to a gathering of protesters on Monday called for “no more ‘blah, blah, blah’” from world leaders.
“They’re just politicians and people in power pretending to take our future seriously,” Thunberg said.
“No more ‘blah, blah, blah,” she and other protesters chanted.
On Tuesday, President Biden reacted and admitted “there’s a reason for people to be worried.”
“I’m worried. I’m worried if we don’t continue to move forward and make the kind of progress we’re now making,” he said. “But I’m optimistic.”
Biden has been determined to demonstrate to the world that the U.S. is back in the global effort against climate change, after his predecessor Donald Trump pulled the U.S. — the world’s largest economy and second-biggest climate polluter — out of the landmark 2015 Paris climate accord.
Putting the U.S. on the path to halve its own output of coal, oil and natural gas pollution by 2050, as his climate legislation seeks to do, “demonstrates to the world the United States is not only back at the table, it hopefully can lead by the power of our example,” Biden told delegates and observers on Monday.
“I know that hasn’t always been the case,” he added, in a reference to Trump.
Biden has essentially bet that the right mix of policies on climate change and the economy are not only good for the country but will help Democrats politically. But questions remain about whether he has enough political capital at home to fully honor his promises to world leaders about shifting the U.S. toward renewable energy.
Biden joined other leaders Tuesday for an initiative to promote safeguarding the world’s forests, which pull vast amounts of carbon pollution from the air. As part of a broader international effort, the administration is attempting to halt natural forest loss by 2030 and intends to dedicate up to $9 billion of climate funding to the issue, pending congressional approval.
“Forests have the potential to reduce — reduce — carbon globally by more than one third,” Biden said.
The president and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen co-hosted an event to promote an alternative to China’s infrastructure financing programs. Biden compared his “Build Back Better World” policies to the Chinese programs, saying his would not expose countries seeking infrastructure funds to “debt traps and corruption.”
He then highlighted the commitments by roughly 100 countries to cut methane emissions by 30% over the next decade.
Biden also joined world leaders in promoting investments in new technology to fight climate change and build a carbon-neutral future. “Our current technology alone won’t get us where we need to be,” he said, “We need to invest in breakthroughs.”
