Not absolutely all gloom: World leaders tout success at climate summit
24 April, 2021
World leaders joined President Joe Biden at the virtual climate summit Friday to talk about their stories how nations can get away from climate-damaging fossil fuels - from Kenyans leapfrogging from kerosene lamps to geothermal power and Israeli start-ups scrambling to improve battery storage.
"We can not win this fight climate change unless we go globally to fight it together," declared President Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta of Kenya.
He spoke as the White House devoted the next and final day of Biden's 40-leader summit to arguing for massive investment now to change america and the rest of the world to cleaner and more prosperous economies for the long term.
Compared with the United States and other wealthy but carbon-dependent nations, Kenya sticks out as a poorer nation closing the technology gap despite limited money. It has moved within decades from dirty-burning coal, kerosene and wood fires to become a leading user and producer of geothermal energy, wind and solar powered energy.
Biden has used the virtual summit - plagued by intermittent electronic echoes and other glitches - to showcase the U.S. go back to international climate efforts after President Donald Trump's resolute withdrawal from the mission.
The coronavirus pandemic forced the summit into its virtual format, with Cabinet secretaries stepping in as emcees to keep carefully the livestreamed action moving.
Biden also used the summit to help make the case for his $2.3 trillion proposal to scrap crumbling U.S. infrastructure and rebuild with efficient, climate-friendly transport systems, electric grids and buildings.
"This is a moment for all those to build better economies for our children, our grandchildren," Biden said Friday, standing at a lectern in the White House and facing a Zoom-style screen of listening leaders from all over the world.
"We must make sure that staff who thrived in yesterday's and today's industries have as bright a tomorrow in the brand new industries, Biden said.
While technological development and wider use has helped make wind and solar powered energy strongly competitive against coal and gas in the U.S., Biden said investment also would bring forward thriving, clean-energy fields "in things we haven't even considered so far."
It's all operating of an argument U.S. officials say will make or break Biden's climate vision: Pouring trillions of dollars into clean-energy technology, research and infrastructure will speed a competitive U.S. economy in to the future and create jobs, while saving the earth.
Republicans are sticking with the arguments that Trump made in pulling the U.S. out from the 2015 Paris climate accord. They indicate China as the world's worst climate polluter - the U.S. is No. 2 - and say any transition to completely clean energy hurts American oil, natural gas and coal workers.
This means "putting good-paying American jobs in to the shredder," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on the Senate floor Thursday in a speech in which he dismissed the administration's plans as costly and ineffective.
A lot of the proposed spending to address climate change is roofed in Biden's infrastructure bill, which would pay for new roads, safe bridges and reliable public transit, while boosting electric vehicles, clean normal water and investments in clean energy such as solar and wind power.
Biden's plan faces a steep road in the closely divided Senate, where Republicans led by McConnell have objected strongly to the thought of paying for a lot of it with tax increases on corporations.
The White House says administration officials will continue steadily to get in touch with Republicans and can remind them that the proposal's ideas are widely popular with Americans of most political persuasions.
The closing day of the summit also featured billionaires Bill Gates and Mike Bloomberg, steelworker and electrical union leaders and executives for solar and other renewable energy.
"We can't beat climate change with out a historic amount of new investment," Bloomberg said.
"We must do more, faster to cut emissions," said Bloomberg, who's donated millions to market replacing dirty-burning coal-fired power plants with increasingly cheaper renewable energy.
Biden envoy John Kerry stressed the political feature that the president's demand retrofitting creaky U.S. infrastructure to perform more cleanly would put the U.S. on a much better economic footing long-term. "Nobody has been asked for a sacrifice," Kerry said. "This is an opportunity."
Presidents and prime ministers from all over the world joined in to describe their own investments and commitments to break from reliance on climate-damaging petroleum and coal.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described scientists at a huge selection of Israeli start-ups working hard to boost crucial battery storage for solar, wind and other renewable energy.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen renewed Denmark's pledge to get rid of oil and gas exploration in the North Sea, switching from offshore coal and oil rigs to wind farms.
On the summit's opening day Thursday, Biden pledged the U.S. will cut fossil fuel emissions around 52% by 2030. South Korea, Japan, Canada and South Africa also joined in specific new emissions efforts timed to the summit.
Biden's new goal puts america being among the most ambitious nations in curbing climate change, the Rhodium Group, an unbiased research organization, announced overnight.
Different nations use different base years for their emission cuts so comparisons are difficult and will look different based on baseline years. The Rhodium Group said using the U.S.-preferred 2005 baseline, America is behind the uk but right with the European Union. It's ahead of another tier of countries that include Canada, Japan, Iceland and Norway.
Source: japantoday.com