Climate crisis
Malaysia pushes for solution to climate issues
Malaysian High Commissioner to Bangladesh and Chair of ASEAN Dhaka Committee (ADC) Haznah Md Hashim has highlighted the critical role of governments towards finding a sustainable solution to the climate change issues.
She said climate issues have a tremendous effect on countries all over the world, particularly those from the emerging economies.
"Therefore, a collective effort, in not just ASEAN but also countries like Bangladesh, is needed to ensure governments meet its obligation under the Paris Agreement," said the High Commissioner.
She was addressing a webinar on "Climate Change" on Thursday initiated by the High Commission of Malaysia to explore ideas and views as well as sharing of best practices on climate change.
Also read: Climate emergency demands policy shift to adaptation: Global leaders on COP26
Secretary General of the Ministry of Environment and Water, Malaysia (KASA) Dr Zaini Ujang and Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bangladesh, Md Mostafa Kamal were present as the chief guests.
Haji Haris Haji Othman, High Commissioner of Brunei Darussalam; Aung Kyaw Moe, Ambassador of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; Pham Viet Chien, Ambassador of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam; Makawadee Sumitmor, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Thailand; Hidayat Atjeh, Chargé d' Affaires of the Republic of Indonesia; Leo Marco C Vidal, Chargé d' Affaires of the Republic of the Philippines; Sheela Pillai, Head of Mission of the Singapore Consulate; senior officials, diplomats and experts from Bangladesh and ASEAN Member States.
The ADC was established in the year 2014 and is comprised of eight ASEAN Missions based in Dhaka.
Also read: UK Foreign Secretary reaffirms support for Bangladesh’s climate actions
They are the High Commission of Brunei Darussalam, Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia, High Commission of Malaysia, Embassy of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, Embassy of Republic of the Philippines, Consulate of the Republic of Singapore, Embassy of the Royal Thai Embassy, and Socialist Republic of Viet Nam.
The ADC chair is rotated every six months and is currently being chaired by Malaysia.
Pay compensation to climate vulnerable nations: FM to developed countries
Bangladesh has called upon the developed countries -- responsible for the highest rates of global carbon emissions -- to pay compensation to the poorer nations for the losses and damages incurred through climate change.
In an interview with ITV News, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen said it is fair and just for these bigger countries to pay compensation because they are the ones that abuse the resources and spoil planet Earth.
The G20, which is made up of most of the world’s largest economies, accounts for more than 80% of global carbon emissions.
Meanwhile, developing countries like Bangladesh often emit the lowest amounts of global emissions but are forced to endure the disproportionate wrath of climate change.
Bangladesh is only responsible for 0.4% of the planet’s total carbon discharge yet loses around 2% of its GDP yearly to extreme climate events, says the ITV News.
Six million Bangladeshis have so far got displaced as a consequence of climate change and by 2050, the country fears 17% of its coastline will vanish underwater creating 30 million climate refugees.
“This is an existential problem for Bangladesh,” Momen said, adding that the climate change issue is not a national issue, not a regional issue, it is a global issue. "We all have to work together in collaboration and partnership to save this planet."
Read: Bangladesh to be voice of climate vulnerable countries: FM
Dhaka, London hopeful of signing climate accord before COP26
Bangladesh and the United Kingdom are planning to sign a "climate accord" before COP26 and expressed optimism for a successful outcome of the COP26 with a possible CVF-COP26 event at Glasgow.
The two countries agreed to work together to put nature at the heart of their climate action, building on the 2020 Leaders’ Pledge for Nature and realising shared commitments towards conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems, as well as those under the Global Ocean Alliance and the Commonwealth Blue Charter.
As founding members of the Adaptation Action Coalition, Bangladesh and the UK renewed their commitment to work together with other Coalition members to accelerate adaptation on the ground with a particular emphasis on promoting locally led climate action, according to a joint statement issued on Thursday.
The two countries will do more to avert, minimise, and address Loss and Damage, said the joint statement on climate action between the two countries.
Bangladesh and the UK will work together to get the network operating, following the UK-led Climate and Development Ministerial and drawing on the expertise in the UK, Bangladesh and internationally.
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen and COP26 President-Designate Alok Sharma met on Wednesday during the visit of COP26 President-designate to Bangladesh on June 2-4.
Also read: COP26: Alok Sharma pledges support for Bangladesh towards clean energy transition
They jointly reaffirmed their commitment to enhancing cooperation between Bangladesh and the United Kingdom in tackling climate change’s causes and adverse effects. They agreed to demonstrate sustained leadership to tackle the climate emergency bilaterally and globally.
The two countries agreed to exchange expertise, share technology, facilitate partnerships, and identify practical solutions to common climate challenges.
COP26 President-designate Sharma to visit Bangladesh this week
COP26 President-designate Alok Sharma will visit Bangladesh this week to discuss shared priorities as Bangladesh is considered one of the "crucial" partners on the road to COP26.
He will also travel to Viet Nam and Indonesia as part of his South East Asia and South Asia tour to strengthen support for UK COP26 climate priorities ahead of hosting the key UN climate change summit in Glasgow this November.
With less than six months to go before COP26, he will meet with leaders from government, business and civil society to press his personal priority for a move to global clean power, critical to limiting global temperature rise to 1.5C.
Viet Nam, Indonesia and Bangladesh are fast-growing economies with significant renewable energy potential, said the UK government announcing his tri-nation visit.
The visit will highlight their growing leadership and how the UK Presidency will work with countries to support workers and communities to make the transition to good green jobs.
It builds on the recent Climate and Environment Ministerial meeting where, under the UK’s leadership, G7 nations agreed to end all new direct government support for international coal power, and to increase support for clean energy alternatives like solar and wind.
Implementation of Paris deal only way to check global warming: Hasina
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday laid emphasis on the strict implementation of the Paris Agreement, saying that it is the only way to check global emissions and thereby global warming.
"The time to take action to save the planet is not tomorrow, but today," she said in her prerecorded video message in the Foreign Policy Virtual Climate Summit.
The Prime Minister said that climate change is not boundary-specific. "If one country emits, every country is affected. So, every country would have to play its role," she said.
She, however, said the rich countries, especially the G20 nations, should play the main role in halting the global emission.
Sheikh Hasina also hailed the USA's return to the Paris Agreement and appreciated US President Joe Biden’s decision and also about holding the Leaders’ Summit last week.
She stressed the importance of implementing the Paris Agreement wherein the international community pledged to form a USD 100-billion fund each year for the adaptation and mitigation purposes.
Hasina said that in the Paris Climate Accord, member countries have agreed not to allow the global temperature to rise above 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Also read: Leaders' Summit on Climate: Dhaka optimistic about $100 billion fund
"But nothing substantial has so far been done to check the emission of greenhouse gases which are responsible for the temperature rise," she bemoaned.
Sheikh Hasina said the global temperature is rising and there is no doubt about it. “And this temperature-rise is the main culprit of all ills. The continuous rise in global temperature is the most pressing concern for human kind.
"After the Covid-19, the most discussed subject of the time perhaps is climate change. Climate change has now become a huge threat to every country, especially the climate vulnerable countries like Bangladesh," she said.
The Prime Minister said that the entire world is passing through a tough time due to the Covid-19 pandemic claiming a large number lives and infecting hundreds of thousands more every day. "We need united efforts to get rid of the deadly virus."
Talking about the challenges of Bangladesh on the climate change issue, the Prime Minister said that countries like Bangladesh have been experiencing increased frequencies and ferocities of various natural calamities like flood, drought, tidal surge, nor’wester and lightning. "Currently, a heatwave is sweeping over my country."
Last year, she said that Bangladesh experienced heavy monsoon that submerged one-third of Bangladesh. Several cyclones, including super cyclone Amphan, also hit the country last year. “All these phenomena are due to climate change.”
Also read: Strict implementation of Paris deal only way forward for sustainable future: Dhaka
"Bangladesh is not an emitter. In fact, no member country of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) is a significant emitter. But we’re the worst sufferers. Every year 2% of my country’s GDP is lost to extreme climate events."
In this connection, she mentioned about the 1.1 million forcibly evicted Rohingyas from Myanmar that Bangladesh has given shelter in the environmentally critical Cox’s Bazar district heavily affected the ecology of the area.
Hasina also said that the bottom 100 countries account for just 3.5% of the global emission whereas the G20 countries are responsible for 80%. The CVF countries are at the forefront of climate adaptation.
She mentioned that Bangladesh is the first LDC to establish a Climate Change Trust Fund. So far, it spent over USD 415 million from its own resources to implement over 800 mitigation and adaptation programmes. “Our Parliament adopted a motion in 2019 declaring the current state of climate vulnerability as a planetary emergency.”
Hasina went on saying, "We’re planting 30 million saplings and launched a programme called 'Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan', marking the birth centenary of our Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman."
She said that Bangladesh is spending on average 2.5% of its GDP equivalent to US$ 5 billion each year on climate adaptation and resilience-building. Bangladesh has built 12,000 cyclone shelters and 200,000 hectares of coastal green belts.
Also read: Hasina places 4 suggestions to deal with climate challenge
The scientists of Bangladesh have invented salinity and flood-tolerant crops, rain reservoirs and pond-sand-filters, floating agriculture technology and mobile water treatment plants for the coastal people, she said.
The Prime Minister said: "The provisions of water bodies and tree plantation are ensured while implementing any project. We’re creating artificial mangrove forests in the chars and shoals of coastal districts."
The government is building cyclone-resistant houses for the poor in the cyclone-prone areas, she said, adding, “For preserving water and increasing navigability, we are dredging rivers and canals throughout the country.”
She also mentioned that the Global Centre on Adaptation has set up its South Asian Regional Office in Dhaka. The centre is working to disseminate local-based innovative adaptation practices.
Editor-in-Chief of Foreign Policy Ravi Agrawal moderated the event.
The Prince of Wales Charles, US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, Foreign Minister of Japan Toshimitsu Motegi, President of COP26 Alok Sharma and Minister of State for Business, Energy and Clean Growth of United Kingdom Anne-Marie Trevelyan, MP, among others, spoke at the programme.
1.1mln Bangladeshis talking about climate change on Facebook
Over 1.1 million Bangladeshis have been talking about environmental conservation on Facebook in the past three months.
The three most popular topics are sustainable food, sustainable living and wildlife conservation.
In Bangladesh, interest in issues related to climate change mirrors global sentiment.More people are also joining communities to learn more about issues and taking action.
There are now more than 2 million Bangladeshis who are part of at least one of the 6,000 Facebook groups dedicated to the discovery, protection and appreciation of our environment.
Also read: Hasina places 4 suggestions to deal with climate challenge
“I continue to be inspired by Bangladeshis rallying together across our platforms to take action on climate change,” said Jordi Fornies, Facebook’s Director of Emerging Markets at APAC.
“At Facebook, we recognise the urgency of climate change and are committed to help tackle this crisis affecting communities around the globe. Our operations are now 100 percent supported by renewable energy, and we are one of the largest corporate buyers of renewable energy globally.”
Facebook is encouraging people across its platforms to take action and help protect the planet from climate crisis as it continues to impact communities around the world.
According to a global survey conducted by Facebook in partnership with the Yale Program on Climate Communication, more than three-quarters of people from 30 countries believe in climate change, and 7 in 10 people were supportive of the Paris Climate Accord.
Also read: Bangladesh, US to work together to address challenges of climate change
To make it easier for people to take action against climate change, the social media platform is launching the Facebook Greenprint consumer guide, and a “Stand up for Earth” WhatsApp sticker pack that highlights some of the environmental challenges that we’re facing across the globe, and encourages actions like recycling, reducing electricity and saving water.
There are also several wallpapers already in WhatsApp that show the beauty of the planet.
The Facebook Greenprint is a digital guide that features 15 simple steps that people can take to protect the planet.
These steps include joining a local Facebook Group or community to learn more about Bangladesh’s various environmental issues, attending a sustainable event in the area, donating to local wildlife organisations or shopping ethically on Instagram Shops.
Also read: Climate Change: Biden's administration urged to take genuine leadership role
Facebook will continue striving towards their climate change goals, and has committed to reaching net zero emissions for the value chain in 2030.
At ‘moment of peril,’ Biden opens global summit on climate
President Joe Biden convened leaders of the world’s most powerful countries on Thursday to try to spur global efforts against climate change, drawing commitments from Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin to cooperate on cutting emissions despite their own sharp rivalries with the United States.
“Meeting this moment is about more than preserving our planet,” Biden declared, speaking from a TV-style set for a virtual summit of 40 world leaders. “It’s about providing a better future for all of us,” he said, calling it “a moment of peril but a moment of opportunity.”
“The signs are unmistakable. the science is undeniable. the cost of inaction keeps mounting,” he added.
Biden’s own new commitment, timed to the summit, is to cut U.S. fossil fuel emissions up to 52% by 2030. marking a return by the U.S. to global climate efforts after four years of withdrawal under President Donald Trump. Biden’s administration is sketching out a vision of a prosperous, clean-energy United States where factories churn out cutting-edge batteries for export, line workers re-lay an efficient national electrical grid and crews cap abandoned oil and gas rigs and coal mines.
Japan, a heavy user of coal, announced its own new 46% emissions reduction target Thursday as the U.S. and its allies sought to build momentum through the summit. South Korea used the summit to say it would stop all public financing of new coal-fired power plants, an important step that climate groups hope will help persuade China and Japan to slow their own building and funding of coal power.
The coronavirus pandemic compelled the summit to play out as a climate telethon-style livestream, limiting opportunities for spontaneous interaction and negotiation. The opening was rife with small technological glitches, including echoes, random beeps and off-screen voices.
But the U.S. summit also marshaled an impressive display of the world’s most powerful leaders speaking on the single cause of climate change.
China’s Xi, whose country is the world’s biggest emissions culprit, followed by the United States, spoke first among the other global figures. He made no reference to nonclimate disputes that had made it uncertain until Wednesday that he would even take part in the U.S. summit, and said China would work with America in cutting emissions.
Also read: EU reaches major climate deal ahead of Biden climate summit
“To protect the environment is to protect productivity, and to boost the environment is to boost productivity. It’s as simple as that,” Xi said.
Putin, whose government has been publicly irate over Biden’s characterization of him as a “killer” for Russia’s aggressive moves against its opponents, made no mention of his feuding with Biden in his own climate remarks, a live presentation that also saw moments of dead air among production problems.
“Russia is genuinely interested in galvanizing international cooperation so as to look further for effective solutions to climate change as well as to all other vital challenges,” Putin said. Russia by some measures is the world’s fourth-biggest emitter of climate-damaging fossil fuel fumes.
The pandemic made gathering world leaders for the climate summit too risky. That didn’t keep the White House from sparing no effort on production quality. The president’s staff built a small set in the East Room that looked like it was ripped from a daytime talk show.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris addressed the summit from separate lecterns before joining Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and White House climate envoy John Kerry at a horseshoe-shaped table set up around a giant potted plant to watch fellow leaders’ livestreamed speeches.
The format meant a cavalcade of short speeches by world leaders, some scripted, some apparently more impromptu. “This is not bunny-hugging,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said of the climate efforts. “This is about growth and jobs.”
The Biden administration’s pledge would require by far the most ambitious U.S. climate effort ever, nearly doubling the reductions that the Obama administration had committed to in the landmark 2015 Paris climate accord.
The new urgency comes as scientists say that climate change caused by coal plants, car engines and other fossil fuel use is already worsening droughts, floods, hurricanes, wildfires and other disasters and that humans are running out of time to stave off most catastrophic extremes of global warming.
But administration officials, in previewing the new target, disclosed aspirations and vignettes rather than specific plans, budget lines or legislative proposals for getting there.
Biden excused himself in the midst of the first session for other duties, but planned to join a second session of the livestreamed summit later in the morning on financing poorer countries’ efforts to remake and protect their economies against global warming.
Also read: FM: Bangladesh’s points to be on agenda of Biden's Climate Summit
With the pledge from the United States and other emissions-cutting announcements from Japan, Canada, the European Union and the United Kingdom, countries representing more than half the world’s economy will have now committed to cutting fossil fuel fumes enough to keep the earth’s climate from warming, disastrously, more than 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius), the administration said.
As of 2019, the last year before the pandemic, the U.S. had reduced 13% of its greenhouse gases compared with 2005 levels, which is about half way to the Obama administration goals of 26 to 28%, said climate scientist Niklas Hohne of Climate Action Tracker. That’s owing largely to market forces that have made solar and wind, and natural gas, much cheaper
Biden, a Democrat, campaigned partly on a pledge to confront climate change. He has sketched out some elements of his $2 trillion approach for transforming U.S. transportation systems and electrical grids in his campaign climate plan and in his infrastructure proposals for Congress.
His administration insists the transformation will mean millions of well-paying jobs. Republicans say the effort will throw oil, gas and coal workers off the job. They call his infrastructure proposal too costly.
“The summit is not necessarily about everyone else bringing something new to the table — it’s really about the U.S. bringing their target to the world,” said Joanna Lewis, an expert in China energy and environment at Georgetown University.
Political divisions in America that were exposed by Trump’s presidency have left the nation weaker than it was at the 2015 Paris accord. Unable to guarantee that a different president in 2024 won’t undo Biden’s climate work, the Biden administration has argued that market forces — with a boost to get started — will soon make cleaner fuels and energy efficiency too cheap and consumer-friendly to trash.
Having the United States, with its influence and status, back in the climate game is important, said Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air in Helsinki.
But hoping the world will forget about the last four years seems like wishful thinking, he said.
“There is too much of an impulse in the U.S. to just wish away Trump’s legacy and the fact that every election is now basically a coin toss between complete climate denial and whatever actions the Democrats can bring to the table,” he said.
Hasina places 4 suggestions to deal with climate challenge
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday put forward four suggestions to global leaders to fight climate change challenges with a strong collective response.
The Prime Minister made the suggestions in her prerecorded video statement screened in the opening session of the two-day ‘Leaders’ Summit on Climate’ hosted by US President Joe Biden.
Joe Biden invited 40 world leaders, including Sheikh Hasina, to join the virtual Summit to galvanise efforts by major economies to tackle the climate crisis.
Sheikh Hasina’s suggestions include announcing an immediate and ambitious action plan by developed countries to reduce their carbon emissions to keep the global temperature at 1.5 degrees Celsius with focus on mitigation measures; and ensuring the annual target of 100 billion US dollars which should be balanced 50:50 between adaptation and mitigation with a special attention to the vulnerable countries while pursuing losses and damages.
The other two suggestions are: Major economies, international financial institutions and private sectors should come forward with plans for concessional climate financing as well as innovation; and focusing on green economy and carbon neutral technologies with a provision of technology transfer among nations.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has reminded us that any global crisis can only be addressed through a strong collective response,” she said.
Also read: FM: Bangladesh’s points to be on agenda of Biden's Climate Summit
Hasina thanked US President Biden for convening the Summit and inviting her to speak at this gathering saying that Bangladesh deeply appreciates the United States’ return to the Paris Climate Agreement and its keen to engage with the international community.
“Despite being a climate vulnerable country with resource constraints, Bangladesh has emerged as a global leader on adaptation and mitigation,” she said.
PM to highlight challenges, efforts on climate front at Leaders' Summit on Climate
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will deliver her speech virtually at the "Leaders Summit on Climate" on Thursday highlighting the climate-related challenges Bangladesh faces and the efforts it is undertaking.
Prime Minister Hasina, also President of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), will address the inaugural session of the Summit titled "Raising Our Climate Ambition" with other global leaders, an official told UNB.
US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will open the inaugural session of the two-day Summit at 6pm (Bangladesh Time).
This session will underscore the urgent need for the world’s major economies to strengthen their climate ambition by the time of COP 26 to keep the goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius within reach.
It will provide an opportunity for leaders to announce new steps to strengthen climate ambition.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry will also join.
Also read: FM: Bangladesh’s points to be on agenda of Biden's Climate Summit
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Russian President Vladimir Puti, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Prime Minister, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are among participants invited by the US President.
The second session will be on "Investing in Climate Solutions."
Biden pressed on emissions goal as climate summit nears
When President Joe Biden convenes a virtual climate summit on Thursday, he faces a vexing task: how to put forward a nonbinding but symbolic goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that will have a tangible impact on climate change efforts not only in the U.S. but throughout the world.
The emissions target, eagerly awaited by all sides of the climate debate, will signal how aggressively Biden wants to move on climate change, a divisive and expensive issue that has riled Republicans to complain about job-killing government overreach even as some on the left worry Biden has not gone far enough to address a profound threat to the planet.
The climate crisis poses a complex political challenge for Biden, since the problem is harder to see and far more difficult to produce measurable results on than either the coronavirus pandemic relief package or the infrastructure bill.
Also read: US, China agree to cooperate on climate crisis with urgency
The target Biden chooses “is setting the tone for the level of ambition and the pace of emission reductions over the next decade,″ said Kate Larsen, a former White House adviser who helped develop President Barack Obama’s climate action plan.
The number has to be achievable by 2030 but aggressive enough to satisfy scientists and advocates who call the coming decade a crucial, make-or-break moment for slowing climate change, Larsen and other experts said.
Scientists, environmental groups and even business leaders are calling on Biden to set a target that would cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% below 2005 levels by 2030.
The 50% target, which most experts consider a likely outcome of intense deliberations underway at the White House, would nearly double the nation’s previous commitment and require dramatic changes in the power and transportation sectors, including significant increases in renewable energy such as wind and solar power and steep cuts in emissions from fossil fuels such as coal and oil.
Anything short of that goal could undermine Biden’s promise to prevent temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, experts say, while likely stirring up sharp criticism from international allies and Biden’s own supporters.
The target is significant, not just as a visible goal for the U.S. to achieve after four years of climate inaction under President Donald Trump, but also for “leveraging other countries,″ Larsen said. “That helps domestically in the battle that comes after, which is implementing policies to achieve that target. We can make a better case politically at home if other countries are acting at the same level of ambition as the U.S.”
The 2030 goal, known as a Nationally Determined Contribution, or NDC, is a key part of the Paris climate agreement, which Biden rejoined on his first day in office. It’s also an important marker as Biden moves toward his ultimate goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
“Clearly the science demands at least 50%” in reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, said Jake Schmidt, a climate expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council, a leading environmental group.
The 50% target “is ambitious, but it is achievable,″ he said in an interview. It’s also a good climate message, he said: “People know what 50% means — it’s half.″
Whatever target Biden picks, the climate summit itself “proves the U.S. is back in rejoining the international effort″ to address climate change, said Larsen, now a director at the Rhodium Group, an independent research firm.
Also read: FM: Bangladesh’s points to be on agenda of Biden's Climate Summit
The summit is “the starting gun for climate diplomacy” after a four-year “hiatus” under Trump, she said. John Kerry, Biden’s climate envoy, has been pressing global leaders in person and online ahead of the summit for commitments and alliances on climate efforts.
Nathaniel Keohane, another former Obama White House adviser and now a vice president at the Environmental Defense Fund, said experts have coalesced around the need to reduce emissions by at least 50% by 2030.
“The number has to start with 5,” he said, adding, “We’ve done the math. We need at least 50%.″
The 2030 target is just one in a sometimes overlapping set of goals that Biden has outlined on climate. He also has said he expects to adopt a clean energy standard that would make electricity carbon-free by 2035, along with the wider goal of net-zero carbon emissions economy-wide by 2050.
Biden’s climate adviser, Gina McCarthy, acknowledged that the sheer volume of numbers can be confusing. At a forum last week, she and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said climate activists should focus on actions in the next decade.
“Let’s stop talking about 2050,″ said McCarthy, who is leading White House efforts to develop U.S. climate commitments for 2030.
Bloomberg, 79, was even more blunt: 2050 “is a good number for people who give speeches, but I don’t know anyone giving those speeches who’s going to be alive in 2050.″
Some Republican lawmakers call the focus on reducing U.S. emissions counter-productive, saying Biden’s plan would raise energy costs and kill American jobs while allowing Russia, China and other countries to increase greenhouse gas emissions.
“The Biden administration will set punishing targets for the United States, while our adversaries keep the status quo. That won’t solve climate change,″ said Sen. Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the top Republican on the Senate Energy Committee. The United States already leads the world in reducing carbon emissions, Barrasso said, adding that Biden should try to “make American energy as clean as we can, as fast as we can, without raising costs for consumers.”
Some on the left think Biden is not going far enough.
Also read: Bangladesh, US to work together to address challenges of climate change
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat who has called for a massive Green New Deal, said Biden deserves “a lot of credit” for his infrastructure plan’s vision and scope, but said it falls far short of what is needed to meaningfully combat the climate crisis. She and her supporters are calling for at least $10 trillion in federal spending over the next decade to address climate change and other problems.
McCarthy disputed the notion that Biden has backtracked from campaign promises to lead on climate.
“We’re always either doing too little or too much,″ she told reporters earlier this month. “But rest assured that the president put a (spending) number out here that he felt was not just defensible but required to meet this moment in time.″
Much of the proposed spending to address climate change is included in Biden’s $2.3 trillion infrastructure bill.
If Republicans think less money should be spent on clean energy and infrastructure, McCarthy added, “then we’ll have those conversations.”
Marcella Burke, a former Trump administration official who now is an energy lawyer in Houston, gives Biden an “A-Plus for enthusiasm” on climate, but an incomplete on details. “We’ve had a lot of goals, but not a lot of strategy announced to get there,″ she said. “So the jury is still out.