Biden expresses sense of urgency in advancing climate goals

In the virtual meeting with national security and climate policy staff on Monday, Biden reiterated his intention to ensure climate change is a core national security priority.

Washington: Joe Biden has expressed a clear sense of urgency in advancing climate goals as the US President-elect discussed his decision to rejoin the historic Paris Agreement on his first day in office during a meeting on climate policy.

In the virtual meeting with national security and climate policy staff on Monday, Biden reiterated his intention to ensure climate change is a core national security priority, according to a readout issued by the Office of the President-elect.

He expressed a clear sense of urgency in advancing his climate goals, it said.

Biden was joined by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris during the meeting to discuss ways to meet the president-elect’s wide-ranging and ambitious international climate commitments.
The discussions included his decision to rejoin the Paris Agreement on his first day in office, the readout stated.

On November 4, the Trump administration formally withdrew from the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change, a decision originally announced three years ago.

The Paris accord committed the US and 187 other countries to keeping rising global temperatures below 2C above pre-industrial levels and attempting to limit them even more, to a 1.5C rise.

Biden has pledged that his administration would rejoin the historic Paris Agreement on climate change.

Climate change is among the top four priorities of Biden. “President-elect Biden is leading the world to address the climate emergency and leading through the power of example,” said a policy paper issued by his transition.

“Biden knows how to stand with America’s allies, stand up to adversaries, and level with any world leader about what must be done. He will not only recommit the United States to the Paris Agreement on climate change — he will also go much further than that. He is working to lead an effort to get every major country to ramp up the ambition of their domestic climate targets,” it said.

The US is the second leading producer of all carbon dioxide emissions globally, behind China.

US President Donald Trump’s decision to quit the Paris accord has led to condemnation from environmentalists and expressions of regret from world leaders.

According to the policy paper, Biden will ensure that — coming out of this profound public health and economic crisis, and facing the persistent climate crisis — the US is never caught flat-footed again.

“He is working to launch a national effort aimed at creating the jobs we need to build modern, sustainable infrastructure now and deliver an equitable clean energy future,” it said.

Last month, Biden named former secretary of state John Kerry as climate envoy for national security. Kerry, 76, was one of the leading architects of the Paris climate agreement.

Introducing Kerry to the nation for this position, Biden had said that for the first time ever, the US will have a full-time climate leader who will participate in ministerial-level meetings.

The current coronavirus crisis destroyed millions of American jobs, including hundreds of thousands in clean energy. It has exacerbated historic environmental injustices, the policy paper noted.

“Biden will immediately invest in engines of sustainable job creation — new industries and re-invigorated regional economies spurred by innovation from our national labs and universities; commercialised into new and better products that can be manufactured and built by American workers; and put together using feed stocks, materials, and parts supplied by small businesses, family farms, and job creators all across our country,” it said.