Biden urges action on climate change at global COP26 summit

Starting on Sunday, October 31, world leaders from over 197 countries met for the two-week U.N. COP26 global climate change summit to address the growing crisis of global warming and develop plans for combatting further damage. At the Glasgow summit, President Biden pitched his $1.75 trillion spending package and detailed the $555 billion plan of climate initiatives it includes before the crowd of global leaders, each of which signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – a treaty that came into force in 1994. 

Biden and other world leaders such as Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of Britain, and Ram Nath Kovind, President of India, made very bold statements at COP26 stating that they all need to do better and hold each other accountable for their waste and disregard of the effects of mass carbon emissions.

“Glasgow must be the kickoff of a decade of ambition and innovation to preserve our shared future. Climate change is already ravaging the world… it’s destroying people’s lives and livelihoods and doing it every single day.” He added,“it’s costing our nation’s trillions of dollars, record heat and drought, fueling more widespread and more intense wildfires in some places and crop failures in others, record flooding, and what used to be once in a century storms are now happening every few years.” 

His $555 billion plan for addressing the climate crisis, with initiatives divided between the Build Back Better Plan and the recently passed bipartisan infrastructure package, aims to “preserve our shared future”. These plans aim to reduce carbon emissions by well over one gigaton by 2030, reduce clean energy costs for working families, making cleaner air and water, create hundreds of thousands of good-paying, union jobs, and advance environmental justice. 

“We’re gonna cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions well over a gigaton by 2030, while making it more affordable for consumers to save on their own energy bills with tax credits for things like installing solar panels weatherizing their homes. Lowering energy prices will also deliver cleaner air and water for our children,” Biden said during a speech at the summit.

The White House also wants to launch the President’s Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience (PREPARE). PREPARE is a $3 billion plan in adaptation finance that will start by 2024 and is the largest U.S. commitment ever made to reduce climate impacts on those most vulnerable to climate change worldwide.

They also aim to submit the First U.S. Adaptation Communication under the Paris Agreement and release the U.S. Long-Term Strategy to meet their 2050 goal — consistent with limiting global warming to less than 1.5° C.

Over the two-week conference, these 197 countries strategized on how to protect communities and natural habitats, mobilize finance with an eye on climate change, cooperate and work together on climate action. They also emphasized their aim to eventually bring carbon emissions down to “net zero,” but have yet to explain how they plan to do so. 

Biden plans on taking full accountability for the U.S.’s progress towards his goals, stating, “we’ll demonstrate to the world that the United States is not only back at the table, but hopefully leading by the power of our example.” 

“I know this hasn’t been the case and that's why my administration is working overtime to show that our climate commitment is action not words,” Biden added.

President Biden reaffirmed his commitment to fighting climate at the U.N.'s recent COP26 climate summit. Source: "Grassroots Fundraiser with Vice President Biden, Dr. Biden, Senator Kamala Harris, and Doug Emhoff - Wilmington, DE - August 21, 2020" by Biden For President is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0