Several countries have already announced programs to become carbon neutral by 2050.
The president of the United States, Joe Biden, claims to have an ambitious plan in favor of families and the environment, but this remained blocked this Friday in Congress, depriving him of a success that he expected before the start in Glasgow of the COP26 on climate, that will take place between October 31 and November 12.
The vast plan dubbed Build Back Better is a campaign promise to transform education, health and the fight against climate change in a decade.
“I know we have a historic economic framework,” Biden said Thursday in a speech to the nation from the White House, shortly after meeting with Democratic leaders in Congress to try to strike deals within his own party and achieve the approval of the plan, to which is added another of infrastructure, according to AFP.
The plan includes tax benefits for individuals who switch to clean energy with the use of solar panels, wind energy, or electric vehicles, as well as for companies, to promote the use of green energy.
It is “a huge step forward in meeting President Biden’s climate goals,” said Sheldon Kimber of the specialist firm Intersect Power.
“But to achieve them, a collective will, a social consensus and the mobilization of the Government and the private sector will be necessary,” he summarized, while hoping that Congress “finds the will to vote” on the official package.
The Build Back Better Act has been the subject of difficult negotiations among Democrats for months, with differences between moderates and progressives on the total amount of the package and the scope of the reforms.
Biden cut his ambitions in half and brought the bill to $ 1.75 trillion in ten years. The infrastructure plan adds another 1.2 trillion.
Meanwhile, from Latin America leaders also begin to make announcements. The president of Colombia, Iván Duque, said that he will present the country’s climate strategy until 2050 at COP26, where he will ask for more financial support from rich nations to face this problem, according to EFE.
In Glasgow, Duque will speak at the World Leaders Summit, in the plenary session and in the forum ‘Action by leaders on forests and land use’ and will present the ‘Colombia’s long-term climate strategy’, called E2050 , which sets out a roadmap to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
Other countries like Israel have also pledged to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, on the eve of the international climate conference.
As for critics of the inaction of the countries, the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg attended a demonstration in London on Friday afternoon by various environmental organizations to protest against the financing of fossil fuels.
The protest, which took place in front of the headquarters of the Standard Chatered bank in the British capital, was attended by dozens of protesters from environmental organizations such as Climate Justice, Fridays for Future and Young Climate Warriors.
“We are demonstrating against Standard Chartered Bank, which is one of the world’s leading climate killers, is one of the leading investors in coal and oil mines in Africa, the Philippines and Latin America,” stated Mexican activist Adriana Calderón.
Starting this Sunday, world leaders and representatives of organizations and institutions from around the globe meet in Glasgow to try to agree on measures to meet the climate objectives set in the Paris Agreement.
G20 before the climate summit
Meanwhile, the presidents of the United States, Biden, and of France, Emmanuel Macron, sealed their reconciliation this Friday during the first face-to-face meeting in Rome after the serious dispute over the sale of submarines to Australia. AFP.
The presidents gathered at the headquarters of the French Embassy to the Holy See for an appointment marked by smiles and handshakes.
“We have to look to the future,” Macron launched, welcoming President Biden at the elegant Villa Bonaparte residence.
The two leaders decided to meet in the Italian capital on the occasion of the G20 summit, on the 30th and 31st, and the COP-26 conference on climate change in early November in Glasgow (United Kingdom), which they attend in person.
The French and American presidents had already held telephone conversations on September 22 about the bilateral crisis caused by Australia’s decision to renounce the contract with France and decide to buy submarines from the United States. (I)
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