Scotland Times

Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Joe Biden Pledges To Double US Climate Change Aid, Some Activists Unimpressed

Joe Biden Pledges To Double US Climate Change Aid, Some Activists Unimpressed

Some groups welcomed the new pledge but others were less impressed by Joe Biden's speech, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg.
US President Joe Biden told the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday he would work with Congress to double funds by 2024 to $11.4 billion per year to help developing nations deal with climate change.

The funding would help achieve a global goal set more than a decade ago of $100 billion per year to support climate action in vulnerable countries by 2020.

"The best part is, making these ambitious investments isn't just good climate policy, it's a chance for each of our countries to invest in ourselves and our own future," Mr Biden told the annual gathering of world leaders. Mr Biden made the commitment less than six weeks before the Oct 31-Nov 12 COP26 Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland.

Core elements of his climate change agenda remain tied to the fate of infrastructure and budget legislation under intense negotiation in Congress, raising the risk that he could arrive at the summit empty handed. The host of the conference, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, said that meeting the climate finance target is key to building trust between developing and developed nations ahead of new negotiations since developed countries have failed to mobilise the $100 billion per year pledge by the original goal year of 2020. Developing countries have been urging industrialised nations to offer financial assistance to help them both rapidly adopt clean energy technologies enabling them to avoid the use of fossil fuels and bolster their defences against the impacts of climate change from sea level rise to extreme heat. Some environmental groups welcomed the new pledge as a much needed boost for the Paris climate agreement ahead of November's summit in Scotland but others were less impressed by Mr Biden's speech, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg.

"President Biden's commitment to scaling up international climate finance to $11.4 billion per year by 2024 is a welcome and much-needed sign that the United States is finally taking its global climate responsibilities seriously," said Rachel Cleetus, policy director at the Union of Concerned Scientists. But as the world's second biggest greenhouse gas emitter, other campaigners said the pledge still falls short. "The US is still woefully short of what it owes and this needs to be increased urgently," said Mohamed Adow, director of Power Shift Africa.

Greta Thunberg criticised climate speeches and pledges at the UN as hollow. "It's quite easy to understand why the world's top emitters of CO2 and the biggest producers of fossil fuels want to make it seem like they're taking sufficient climate action with fancy speeches. The fact that they still get away with it is another matter," she wrote on Twitter.

Mr Johnson and European Commission President Ursula van der Leyen called out the United States on Monday for lagging behind on delivering its share. An analysis by the World Resources Institute shows that even with the US increasing its climate aid commitment to $11.4 billion by 2024, it pales in comparison to the $24.5 billion that the EU spent on climate aid in 2019. Another report released last week - ahead of the Joe Biden announcement - by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said that overall, rich countries fell short of the $100 billion goal, contributing just $79.6 billion in 2019.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Scotland Times
0:00
0:00
Close
UK Island Orkney council to look at proposals to become territory of Norway
Woman Awarded Over £100,000 After Being Fired for Transgender Tweet
A provocative study suggests: Left-Wing Extremism and its Unsettling Connection to Psychopathy and Narcissism
A Real woman
Brand new security footage has just been released to the public showing the Active shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale drove to Covenant Church School in her Honda Fit this morning, parked, and shot her way into the building
China's foreign ministry branch in Hong Kong urges British gov't to stop the biased and double standards Hong Kong report
Double standards: UK lawmakers attack EU chief over Ireland claims
Democracy? Not for UK. UK PM rejects Scottish independence referendum, cancel democracy in BVI
UK urged to brace for economic storm
Women's own body dissatisfaction appears to influence their judgment of other women's body sizes
Prince William To Move Family Into Cottage Near Queen Elizabeth II
BOOOOOOS: Tony Blair receives royal honour
Captured Britons sentenced to death in Ukraine
Barbados PM Mia A. Mottley among Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People
Today's headlines
"Just One Of the Boys In School:" Years That Shaped Prince Charles
BVI Premier Rubbishes Claim Of Causing COI Delay
Comments on "Human Intelligence in a Digital Age" - A brilliant Speech by MI6 Chief Richard Moore, and the elephants neglected in the room
Bitcoin: BoE Deputy Gov wants to cancel democracy and protect the banks with regulations which infringe on people’s freedom, independence and benefits they get from their own money.
What are the Pandora Papers?
Taiwan-China relations at their 'worst in 40 years'
The attempt to hold Epik.com accountable for the content of its clients' websites is like blaming Gutenberg for the NYT's fake news that dragged the US into the pointless war against the nuclear weapons Iraq never had
×