Joe Biden wants to lead the fight against climate change at a summit attended by Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Pope Francis

As he promised during the election campaign, the fight against climate change will be one of the main pillars of Joe Biden’s government. For this reason, The President of the United States organized a virtual summit that will bring together 40 world leaders, including Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Pope Francis, starting Thursday, April 22 – Earth Day.

The top, that runs until Friday and it will act as a prelude to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow in November, with the participation of 17 countries responsible for 80% of the emissions accelerating global climate change.

To lead, major proposals are needed and to that end Biden pledges to cut US greenhouse gas emissions by at least half by 2030, almost double the original goal his country had set under the Paris Agreement.

Washington will pressure all nations to reduce dependence on coal, the secretary of state said Monday. Antony Blink, warning that “we won’t have much of the world left” without stronger American leadership on climate change.

Considering climate change as a national security concern, the head of North American diplomacy warned of a major impact on the entire planet and risks to the United States if it doesn’t make its own efforts. “It’s hard to imagine the United States winning a long-term strategic competition with China if we can’t lead the renewable energy revolution.”

While the Secretary of State was referring to China’s leadership in solar and other technology, the Asian powerhouse is also the world’s largest carbon emitter and by far the largest consumer of coal, the dirtiest form of energy.

“When countries remain dependent on coal for a significant portion of their energy, or invest in new coal factories, or allow massive deforestation, they will hear from the United States and our partners how damaging these actions are,” Blinken emphasized.

Coal is a particularly sensitive political issue in both China and the United States. Beijing, despite its pledge to become carbon neutral by 2060, has made progress in the construction of coal-fired power plants.

The ex-president Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris climate agreement by proclaiming himself champion of the miners, although demand for this mineral in the country continues to decline. Biden, on the other hand, proposed a massive $ 2 trillion infrastructure package, inclusive a major transition to green energy.

Blinken noted the increase in activity from China and especially Russia in the Arctic. “Russia is using this change to control the new space,” said the secretary of state.

The Secretary-General of the UN, Antonio Guterres, also urged on Monday to take drastic measures on the climate, claiming the world is “on the brink” was one of the hottest years on record after 2020, despite the economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

On the eve of the virtual summit, The European Union (EU) is committed to reducing its net CO2 emissions by “at least” 55% by 2030, compared to the current target of 40%. Joao Pedro Matos Fernandes, Portugal’s environment minister – the country that holds the rotating EU presidency – told a press conference that the sealed agreement is “a strong signal to the world” of European determination.

The formulation of the target is the result of delicate diplomatic negotiations to reconcile the positions of the EU countries, which agreed last November to a net reduction of 55%, and the European Parliament, which was in favor of a decrease of the emission volume of at least 60%.

The UK, for its part, pledged on Tuesday to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 78% by 2035 from 1990 levels. “We want to keep raising the bar in the fight against climate change and that is why we are setting the most ambitious emission reduction target in the world,” said the prime minister. Boris Johnson.

Despite the presence of Putin and Xi, senior US government officials on Wednesday in a call with journalists ruled out that a bilateral meeting would take place in the margins of the summit.

The United States Special Envoy on Climate Change, John Kerry, who visited China last week, stressed Wednesday in a conversation with the newspaper The Washington Post that without the Asian giant, there is no way to fix global warming, regardless of the differences it maintains with Washington in other areas.

Kerry announced that China has decided to sign the joint statement coming out of the meeting, recognizing climate change as a global crisis.

“China has used the word crisis for the first time”, said the former Secretary of State, hoping that Xi will make an announcement at this meeting on “what he will do to address this immediate challenge by 2030”.

And he added that Biden is striving to “raise global ambition,” with his focus more focused on 2030 than 2050.

He also warned that if countries do not commit to reducing their emissions within nine years and the Earth’s average temperature is not kept below 1.5 degrees Celsius, it will be difficult not to achieve pollutant emissions by 2050.

The summit, which will be opened by Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, will be split into two days starting at 8:00 am local time (12:00 pm GMT). In addition to Putin and Xi, other heads of state or government speaking on Thursday will be the French president, Emmanuel Macron; the British Prime Ministers, Boris Johnson, is Italian, Mario Draghi, and the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel.

Likewise, there are the presidents of Colombia, Iván Duque; from Argentina, Alberto Fernández; from Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro; from Chile, Sebastián Piñera and from Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Other prominent attendees are those of the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan; the South African, Cyril Ramaphosa; the Indian, Narendra Modi, and the South Korean, Moon Jae-in; as well as those of the Japanese government leaders, Yoshihide Suga, and Canadian, Justin Trudeau.

Pope Francis, the Secretary-General of the UN, António Guterres, and the Saudi king, Salmán bin Abdulaziz From day one they will be other speakers.

Officials from the Biden administration confirmed that 80% of the emissions causing global warming come from the world’s 20 major economies, which have the greatest political weight and will be represented at this meeting.

The second part of Thursday morning will be devoted to the private sector, as the US government wants “the talk to be broader and open the door to private capital,” US officials said in the call.

In that block the executive directors of Allianz will be Oliver Bäte; Citigroup, Jane Fraser and Bank of America, Brian Moynihan, among others, in addition to International Monetary Fund Director Kristalina Georgieva, and World Bank President David Malpass.

Friday, the meeting will host the interventions of the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahuas well as the leaders of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen; from Norway, Erna Solberg, and from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Mohamed Bin Rashid Al Maktum.

The President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sanchez, will participate in the session “Economic Opportunities of Climate Action”, together with Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari; from Poland, Andrzej Duda, and from Vietnam, Nguyen Xuan Phuc; including the founder of the Breakthrough Energy organization, Bill Gates, among other things.

With information from EFE and AFP

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