US envoy John Podesta called on governments around the world to keep faith in the country’s promise to fight Covid, adding that it could delay, but not stop, the transition away from fossil fuels when it takes over. US Presidency, in January.
The annual UN climate summit began on Monday in Baku, Azerbaijan, with several country delegations concerned that Trump’s victory in the US presidential election on November 5 could derail progress to limit warming. global.
Trump has again promised to withdraw the United States, the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in history, from international climate cooperation and increase the country’s already record production of fossil fuels.
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“For many of us dedicated to climate action, last week’s outcome in the United States is obviously a bitter disappointment,” Podesta said at the summit.
“But what I want to say to you today is that while the US federal government under Donald Trump may put climate action on the back burner, the work to curb climate change will continue in the United States.”
According to him, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), President Joe Biden’s climate legislation that provides billions of dollars in subsidies for clean energy, will continue to drive investment in solar, wind and other technologies, and that U.S. state governments they must also promote emissions cuts through regulations.
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“I don’t think any of this is reversible. Can it be slowed down? Perhaps. But the direction is clear,” he said.
While Trump has promised to repeal the IRA, doing so would require an act of Congress — which could be difficult given the support of some Republican lawmakers whose districts benefit from IRA-linked investments.
In addition to Trump’s election as president of the world’s largest economy, negotiations in Baku compete for attention with economic concerns and the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
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This complicates the summit’s ambition to resolve the main agenda item – a deal for up to $1 trillion in annual climate finance for developing countries, in place of the previous target of $100 billion.
UN climate chief Simon Stiell sought to raise enthusiasm.
“Let’s abandon the idea that climate finance is charity,” he said at the Baku stadium.
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“An ambitious new climate finance target is entirely in the interests of every nation, including the largest and richest.”
This year is on track to be the hottest on record. Countries rich and poor have faced extreme weather events, including disastrous floods in Africa, the coast of Spain and the US state of North Carolina, as well as a drought affecting South America, Mexico and the western US.
