President Biden delivered his message to the United Nations COP27 climate conference today in Egypt. It is a message of ambition and hope that we can and will prevent the worst of climate change and mitigate the damage we have already done.
The Biden administration has done more domestically than any others in taking steps to mitigate climate change.
And the sum total of the actions my administration is taking puts the United States on track to achieve our Paris Agreement goal of reducing emissions 50 to 52 percent below ’25 [sic] levels by — 2005 levels by 2030.
Biden realizes that it is a global fight and is working to assist less well off countries.
It’s true so many disasters — the climate crisis is hitting hardest those countries and communities that have the fewest resources to respond and to recover. That’s why, last year, I committed to work with our Congress to quadruple U.S. support to climate finance and provide $11 billion annually by 2024, including $3 billion for adaption [adaptation].
And that’s why the fund — Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience — PREPARE, we call it — to help more than half a billion people in developing countries respond to climate change. We’ve already requested more than $2 billion for the PREPARE this year. I am going to fight to see that this and our other climate objectives are fully funded.
It’s not Biden’s fight alone, and it is a long way from settled. Carbon gasses are still being emitted at ever higher levels. Republicans have a long history of denying climate change and blocking action. And, there is significant skepticism surrounding White House financing proposals for developing countries. This is no time for complacency. Stay active and together we can get the Biden and future administrations to follow through and meaningfully mitigate climate change.