The climate leadership role of the United States and President Joe Biden is very ambitious

Last Friday, Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel about efforts to combat climate change via video link. U.S. Climate Ambassador John Kerry spoke last week about climate cooperation in China and India. This week, the European Union proposed a plan to halve carbon dioxide emissions by 2030. Today marks the end of a two-day virtual climate summit of dozens of countries led by Biden.

Also read: Analysis: What can we expect from the big climate summit hosted by US President Joe Biden?

The last meeting in particular was very valuable because it involved the informal return of the United States to the international climate scene. Under Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump, the United States pulled out of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. The United States is now re-participating in those climate deals.

First priority

Biden has made climate a priority. He wants his country to become a world leader in the field of climate change, but the United States lacks credibility in this regard. Trump tore up the Paris Agreement. Earlier, President George W. Bush withdrew from the US Kyoto Protocol because it would harm the US economy and favor rivals. Who guarantees that Biden’s successor will not do the same in 2025?

The United States has no credibility in this matter. Trump tore up the Paris Agreement. Earlier, President George W. Bush withdrew the United States from the Kyoto Protocol

Biden also faces a split Congress that will not accept the drastic change in the U.S. economy needed to meet climate goals.

The mission failed

Climate Pope Kerry’s failed mission to China and India last week underscores that there is still a lot of international skepticism about US aspirations. Together the plan to drastically reduce CO2 emissions is not going well. The accusation is that the historical pollution of the United States is many times greater than the current pollution of the Western non-Western powers. All sorts of geopolitical conflicts with China and Russia make cooperation difficult.

The United States has no international debt to be a leader. Maybe something for the EU?

This would not be below Biden’s enthusiasm for tackling the climate issue in the global context under American wings. But the United States does not have the international debt to be a leader. Maybe something for the EU?

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