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WASHINGTON (AP) – The White House is bringing in billionaires, CEOs and labor leaders on Friday to help sell President Joe Biden’s climate-friendly transformation of the US economy at a virtual summit of world leaders.
The closing day of the two-day climate change summit is to introduce Bill Gates and Mike Bloomberg, leaders and union leaders in metallurgy and electrics for solar and other renewable energies.
It all serves an argument that U.S. officials will make or break Biden’s climate agenda: pouring billions of dollars into clean energy technology, research, and infrastructure will propel a competitive U.S. economy into the world. future and create jobs, while saving the planet.
“Climate change is more than a threat,” Biden said Thursday on the opening day of his climate summit. “It also presents one of the greatest job creation opportunities in history.”
The new emergency comes as scientists say climate change caused by coal-fired power stations, car engines and other fossil fuels is worsening droughts, floods, hurricanes, wildfires and other disasters and that humans are running out of time to ward off the catastrophic extremes of global warming. .
The event brought together the world’s major powers – and major polluters – pledging to cooperate to reduce oil and coal emissions that are rapidly heating the planet.
But Republicans are sticking to the arguments made by former President Donald Trump in withdrawing the United States from the 2015 Paris climate agreement. They point to China as the world’s worst climate polluter – the United States. United are No. 2 – and say any transition to clean energy hurts America’s oil, natural gas and coal workers.
It means “putting well-paying American jobs into the crusher,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Told the Senate Thursday in a speech in which he dismissed the administration’s plans as being expensive and inefficient.
“It’s quite the one-two punch,” McConnell said. “The toothless demands of our foreign adversaries … and maximum pain for American citizens.”
In an announcement scheduled for his summit, Biden pledged that the United States would reduce fossil fuel emissions by up to 52% by 2030.
Allies joined the United States in announcing new measures to cut emissions, working to build momentum ahead of the UN climate summit in Glasgow in November, where governments will indicate how far each is ready to go to reduce the amount of fossil fuel fumes it pumps out.
Japan has announced its own new target to cut emissions by 46% and South Korea has said it will stop public funding for new coal-fired power plants, which could be an important step in persuading China and other coal-dependent countries to curb the construction and financing of new power plants. as well as. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said his country will increase reductions in fossil fuel pollution from 30% to at least 40%.
Biden was due to address the summit on Friday in a session on “the economic opportunities of climate action.” Leaders from Israel, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Kenya, Denmark, Norway, Poland, Nigeria, Spain and Vietnam were also due to attend on Friday, as were the secretaries of transport from the United Arab Emirates. energy and commerce from Biden and others.
Travel precautions under the pandemic forced the summit to go live, limiting opportunities for spontaneous interaction and negotiation. Its opening hours were sometimes marked by electronic echoes, random beeps and off-screen voices.
But the opening of the summit on Thursday also brought together an impressive display of the world’s most powerful leaders speaking out on the sole subject of climate change.
Chinese Xi Jinping spoke first among other world personalities. He made no reference to disputes over land claims, trade and other issues that had left his participation in the US summit uncertain until Wednesday.
“Protecting the environment is protecting productivity, and stimulating the environment is increasing productivity. It’s that simple, ”Xi said.
The Biden administration’s commitment would require by far the most ambitious US climate effort ever, nearly doubling the cuts the Obama administration pledged to in the Paris climate agreement.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel was one of many allies to welcome the return of the United States after Trump.
“I am delighted to see that the United States is back, is back to work with us on climate policy,” Merkel said in her virtual appearance. “Because there is no doubt that the world needs your contribution if we are to truly achieve our lofty goals.”
Pope Francis contributed to a Vatican video, saying, “I wish you success in this beautiful decision to meet with each other, to walk together to move forward, and I am with you all the way.”
Leaders of small states rocked by rising seas and worsening hurricanes have called for help and rapid emission reductions from world powers.
Gaston Alfonso Browne, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, called for debt relief and more international assistance to recover from storms and the pandemic to avoid an influx of climate refugees. His people, he said, “are on the verge of despair.”
Longtime climate policy experts, no strangers to climate summits with solemn commitments, have viewed some speeches with skepticism. After Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro pledged to end clearcutting in the Amazon, Dan Wilkinson of Human Rights Watch’s environmental programs noted: “It will be difficult for anyone to take this seriously until they start. really to take action. “
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Knickmeyer reported from Oklahoma City. Associated Press editors Ashok Sharma in New Delhi, Joe McDonald in Beijing, Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow, David Biller in Rio de Janeiro, Nicole Winfield in the Vatican, Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo and Aamer Madhani, Seth Borenstein and Lisa Mascaro in Washington y contributed report.
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