The US is getting greener

News from the climate summit

It was the first day of the Leaders Summit on Climate. Most of what I read or watched on screen was about world leaders announcing their climate policies. But Earth Day is always a busy day for me, and I couldn’t follow everything. My day started with a lecture on climate and security, followed by a Q and A session. Later in the day, I had live interviews with two different television stations (where we only just in time got the time difference with London corrected). And in every talk, the same question was asked: is Biden’s speech an encouraging development?

Yes, it is. I am convinced that America’s renewed commitment to fight climate change is a very encouraging development. For four long years, during the presidency of the chief climate denier, the world hardly progressed in tackling this existential threat. The momentum of late 2015, when the leaders of the world concluded the Paris Agreement, was lost as soon as Trump took over. And when the historically biggest polluter of greenhouse gas emissions in the world stops taking climate change seriously, the rest of the world shifts a few gears back. But now, only three months after President Biden took over, there is hope that the world leaders will finally do what the world’s population wants them to do; get serious about saving the planet.

Momentum created

And today, they did get serious. It was an enormous meaningful step forward to tackle the wicket worldwide climate change problem. It is not a problem that you solve in one day with a few zoom calls, and more is needed. But the momentum of today will now have to grow further until the next milestone: the COP 26 in Glasgow in November. 

There is more going on than just raised ambitions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. There are two intertwined stories here; one is the U.S. national approach, led by the National Climate Advisor, Gina McCarthy. The other is the international climate policy, led by the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry. Both of them appeared this afternoon together in the White House press briefing.

Clean energy future

McCarthy spoke on the whole-of-government process to establish the 2030 emissions target, in short: cut its emissions at least in half from 2005 levels by 2030. “To get here,” McCarthy said, “we went sector by sector; electricity, transportation, building, industry, and lands and oceans. And we looked at the wealth of already-existing, cost-effective clean technologies, and products that are ready for deployment. And innovation trends that we see in the marketplace that will allow us to win the clean energy future. And the opportunities we now have to create good-paying union jobs, improve public health, keep our communities safe, and advance environmental justice.”

Trust

Kerry referred to the moment, today precisely five years ago, that he signed the Paris Agreement with his granddaughter on his knee. He then described the disappointment of seeing President Trump pulling out of the treaty, as the only chief of state in the world and without any reasonable rationale. It still comes back in his international meetings where he is always asked: “how can we trust you?” Kerry saw the first day of the summit as a restoration of America’s credibility, not in a chauvinistic way, but more multilateral: “we must all raise ambition.” He summarised the commitments as: “we now have about 55 percent of the global GDP committed to levels of reductions that keep faith with holding the Earth’s temperature at 1.5 degrees.”

Climate moved center stage

What both the national and international policy ambitions have in common is the pivotal position that climate change takes in overall policies. Climate is no longer that extra headache that someone has to take care of; it has moved center stage. It was also the central message of Avril Haines, President Biden’s director of national intelligence. She considers climate change now “at the center” of U.S. national security and foreign policy, with far-reaching impacts on force deployments and the stability of hard-hit regions.

It is fascinating to see that the country that three months ago was still led by a climate denier is now putting the new challenges posed by climate change at the center stage of all policies. The Biden Administration frames climate change not only as an existential threat; it is also an opportunity. As Gina McCarthy said: “it’s about how we create jobs for line workers, building thousands of miles of transmission lines for a clean, modern, resilient grid; workers in energy communities capping abandoned wells and reclaiming mines and stopping methane leaks.”

The Leaders Summit on Climate will continue tomorrow. You can follow it here.

Special Presidential Envoy John Kerry @ClimateEnvoy

An incredible first day of the #LeadersClimateSummit. We have our work cut out for us, but together we can tackle the climate crisis. See you all bright and early tomorrow for Day 2.

state.govLeaders Summit on Climate - United States Department of StateWatch live April 23 at 8:00 a.m. View the full schedule of events “Unleashing Climate Innovation” will highlight the critical role of technological innovation in achieving a net-zero, climate-resilient economy; the importance of accelerating public and private investment in climate innovation; and t…

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Notes:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2021/04/22/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-jen-psaki-special-presidential-envoy-for-climate-john-kerry-and-national-climate-advisor-gina-mccarthy-april-22-2021/

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