Presented by Valerie Volkovic
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States officially resumed its Paris climate deal on Friday, resuming its global fight against climate change as the Biden administration pledged to drastically reduce emissions from the country’s greenhouse gases.
The visit, hailed by scientists and diplomats, comes 30 days after a decision was made on the first day of President Joe Biden’s inauguration.
The United States is the only country to have left the treaty since nearly 200 states signed it in 2015. Former President Donald Trump, behind the decision, said climate change would be too expensive.
Ambassadors of the United Kingdom and Italy to the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Ambassador for Climate Ambition and Solutions to the UN. U.S. Climate Ambassador John Kerry, including Special Envoy Michael Bloomberg, will attend virtual events marking his return on Friday.
Joe Biden has promised that the United States will commit to carbon neutrality by 2050. Scientists say this goal is in line with demand. But they insist that global emissions must be halved by 2030 to avert the devastating effects of global warming.
National Climate Advisers John Kerry and Gina McCarthy are developing new rules and concessions to accelerate the deployment of clean energy and fossil fuels.
These measures will form the backbone of Washington’s next emission reduction target or nationally defined contributions (CDNs), which will be announced ahead of Joe Biden’s international climate summit on April 22. The next United Nations Climate Conference will be held in Glasgow, Scotland in November.
The US president has signed a dozen decrees on climate change and mobilized all federal agencies to help define the government’s response.
Despite the enthusiasm for the return of the United States to the negotiating table, Joe Biden’s climate goals face political problems in the United States, as well as opposition from fossil fuel companies and some concerns from foreign leaders about the flip of U.S. climate policy.
“It’s a long way to go, but Paris’ hope is alive and well,” said Rachel Cletus, a climate policy officer at the Union of Scientists.
(French version edited by Kate Entringer, Plantin Honald)
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