The Biden Administration announces plan to double climate change fund
The Biden Administration is working to double funding to fight climate change in developing countries. On Tuesday, Sept. 21, the United Nations held a General Assembly in which President Joe Biden spoke about his goal to provide $11.4 billion dollars for environment relief by 2024. “This will make the United States the leader of public climate finance,” said Biden.
The plan to raise funds still requires congressional approval. The Biden Administration is hoping for approval prior to the Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, UK. This conference will be held and promoted by the United Kingdom and Italy. The conference was originally set to occur in Nov. 2020, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was rescheduled to take place on Oct. 31 through Nov. 12, 2021.
The funds will go to developing nations that are experiencing effects of climate change. According to Reuters, “developing countries have been urging industrialized nations to offer financial assistance to help them both rapidly adopt clean energy technologies.” This technology will allow them to fight climate change and growing temperatures, which cause the water levels to rise.
The climate change plan is working to meet international climate goals set in the Paris Agreement. The Paris Agreement was adopted on Dec. 12, 2015 by 196 parties. The goal of the agreement is “to limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels,” according to the UN. They are working towards long-term solutions to lower greenhouse gas emission.
The Working Group through the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report analyzing the current climate change state. “Human influence has warmed the climate at a rate that is unprecedented in at least the last 2000 years,” read the report. The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres commented on the report calling the climate change crisis “a code red for humanity.”
The world has experienced a rise in temperatures as many in the U.S. and N.D. suffered from these effects. According to UN News, “Global surface temperature has increased faster since 1970 than in any other 50-year period over at least the last 2,000 years.”
Some activists including Greta Thunberg have criticized Biden’s plan saying that it is showing hypocrisy in leadership. “When you look at what we are actually investing the money in, the money that is supposed to be building back better, it shows the hypocrisy of our leaders,” she said. Other activists believe that the U.S. plan is not doing enough, as the country is the “world’s second biggest greenhouse gas emitter” today according to Reuters.