President Joe Biden has said he is working with the US Congress to “dramatically” increase international climate finance while saying the world is at an inflection point.
Speaking to a select group of world leaders at the APEC Informal Dialogue and Working Lunch on Thursday, Biden said every economy is seeing signs of what’s to come — drought, flooding, rising sea levels and temperatures, and unpredictable weather. – if measures are not taken.
“Our world is at an inflection point, a point where the decisions we make now will determine the course of the world, not just a few of our countries, for decades to come,” Biden said.
“Nowhere is this more true than when it comes to climate. Every economy around this table faces this challenge, every one of us. And as I said before, it’s the only existential threat to humanity. Either we get it right or there won’t be a lot of people, who would talk about it.
“As a region, we are responsible for the largest share, the region we are talking about here around this round table, of global emissions, so we must also be responsible for solutions while we still have time to change course,” he said.
India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal was one of the two visiting leaders along with President Gustavo Petro of Colombia at the APEC dialogue.
APEC leaders who attended the working lunch included Anthony Albanese of Australia, Justin Trudeau of Canada, Xi Jinping of China, Joko Widodo of Indonesia, Kishida Fumio of Japan, Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea, Dato’ Seri Anwar bin Ibrahim of Malaysia, Ferdinand R. Marcos of the Philippines; Lee Hsien Loong from Singapore and Vo Van Thuong from Vietnam.
Biden said the U.S. is on track to meet the 1.5-degree goal of reducing emissions by 50 percent by 2030 and helping to reduce the cost of clean energy and climate technologies for nations around the world by as much as 25 percent in some countries. areas.
“But we cannot stop here. We have much more work ahead of us. You all know as well as I do that the effects of climate change are felt most by those who have contributed the least to the problem. Let me say that again, you know that the effects of climate change are felt most by countries that contribute the least to the problem, including developing countries,” he said.
“Over the past 300 years, we’ve contributed a lot here in the United States. That’s why I’m working with our Congress to dramatically increase international climate finance. And this year, the world is on track to meet the climate finance commitment we’ve made.” under the Paris Agreement of USD 100 billion together,” he said.
Biden said he also asked Congress for an additional $25 billion to strengthen the role of multilateral development banks in the fight against the climate crisis, as well as starting with the World Bank, because climate, security, energy security, and food security are interconnected. as you all know. I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know.
“In addition, we have focused on ending deforestation. Forests are key to our future. In the United States alone, they absorb 10 percent of our greenhouse gas emissions as they are today. We are also working with partners at the table.” to mobilize USD 1 billion to protect the Amazon and other critical ecosystems in Latin America,” he added.
Biden encouraged all the leaders involved to take strong national action, as it would be needed by all to meet this moment.
“With the right commitments from all the economies here, we can limit warming. We can build new energy futures and leave no one behind, and we can turn this moment from one of great danger to one of great opportunity,” he said.
Image Source: NPR
