President tells UN climate conference the world faces a ‘decisive decade’
US President Joe Biden and his climate adviser, John Kerry, attend a COP26 event in Glasgow, Scotland, November 1 2021. Picture: REUTERS/KEVIN LAMARQUE
“I know it hasn’t been the case and that’s why my administration is working overtime to show that our climate commitment is action, not words. “There’s no more time to hang back or sit on a fence or argue amongst ourselves,” he said. “This is the challenge of our collective lifetimes.” Under that blueprint released on Monday, the US also needs to improve efficiency, pare methane and boost efforts to strip carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Biden came to the Glasgow conference without some of the momentum he had hoped to harness. The US president was unable to convince Democrats to push forward on a vote on his huge infrastructure legislation — which contains climate provisions — before he left Washington. Biden boasted last week that if enacted, that plan, which would be the largest investment to combat the climate crisis in US history, would reduce US emissions well over a gigaton by 2030.