United States Committed to Meeting Climate Goals

Biden administration envoy for the climate, John Kerry, assures that the United States will meet its objectives for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The United States is determined to meet its targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions despite the recent unfavorable Supreme Court decision, John Kerry, the emissary of the United States, assured AFP on Friday. x27;Biden climate administration.

We are committed to achieving our goals. We can achieve them, he said of these official commitments the day after a decision by the very conservative US Supreme Court, which severely limits the powers of the federal state in the fight against the global warming.

Of course, it would help if we had a majority on the United States Supreme Court who truly understood the seriousness of the situation and who would be more likely to try to help rather than, to help. one way or another, put a spoke in the wheel, said the top diplomat.

President Joe Biden, who had his country reinstated in the The Paris Climate Accord, left by his predecessor Donald Trump, announced in April 2021 that the United States would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50-52% by 2030 compared to 2005.

Joe Biden submitted these new commitments to the UN in order to get closer to the objectives of the Paris Agreement of 2015, where John Kerry was at the maneuver as head of diplomacy for Barack Obama.

China, the world's largest emitter, on Friday called for every country to stick to the commitments of the Paris Agreement, a spokesman for Chinese diplomacy adding, about of the United States, that reciting slogans is not enough.

John Kerry, who has worked with Beijing officials on climate despite the rivalry between the two countries, said he was not surprised by the message from the Asian giant.

“We are going to show China precisely how we will get there.

—John Kerry

The spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General had said on Thursday that the Supreme Court's decision was a step backwards in the fight against climate change when we are already far behind in achieving the goals of the Climate Change Accord. Paris.

Thursday, the highest court in the land ruled that the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could not enact general rules to regulate emissions from coal-fired power plants, which produce nearly 20% of the electricity in the United States.

I am convinced — and our lawyers are looking at it more closely — that this decision leaves enough room for maneuver to do many things that we must do against climate change, however explained John Kerry in an interview with the ;AFP.

“No one, not a bank or private lender, is going to finance new coal plants in the United States. Coal is the worst fuel in the world. »

— John Kerry, Biden administration's climate envoy

Going forward, I think the president needs to think about all possible options, he added , as some Democratic lawmakers call on the president to declare a state of climate emergency.

On Friday, however, the Biden administration paved the way for new permits exploitation of hydrocarbons in the country.

Without a rapid, radical and most often immediate reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in all sectors, it will not be possible to limit warming to +1.5°C compared to the pre-industrial era nor even at +2°C, warned UN climate experts (IPCC) in their report published in April.

States have committed to it by signing the Paris Agreement, but they are not up to the problem for the moment, when a warming of +1.1° C is already making half of humanity very vulnerable, hit by increasing heat waves, droughts, storms and floods.

It It's difficult for the United States to demonstrate global climate leadership when the centrality of this issue is debated within the country itself, said Ruth Greenspan Bell, an expert on climate change. the climate within the Woodrow Wilson think tank.

“Time dictates aiming for the moon, but it's hard to aim for the Moon when in a defensive position.

— Ruth Greenspan Bell

Environmentalists pin little hope on energy bill being debated in Congress , in particular because of the positions of a moderate Democratic senator, Joe Manchin, who defends his state of West Virginia, where many inhabitants live from the coal mines.