current position :Internationnal News

Biden restores US to climate accord

2021-01-21

Joe Biden is sworn in as the 46th president of the United States by Chief Justice John Roberts as Jill Biden holds the Bible during the 59th Presidential Inauguration at the US Capitol in Washington, US, on Jan 20, 2021. [Photo/Agencies]

Newly inaugurated US President Joe Biden moved swiftly on his first day in the White House to rejoin the Paris climate pact and stop the US' exit from the World Health Organization in major rollbacks of his predecessor's policies.

Hours after his inauguration on Wednesday shortly before noon, Biden signed executive orders to begin the process of returning the US to the international accord that the Trump administration left in November and reverse the US process of retreating from the WHO, which is coordinating the world's fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

The move, following a pledge in his inaugural address to "engage with the world again", has fueled hope for renewed international cooperation in the fight against global warming and the still surging pandemic.

"A cry for survival comes from the planet itself, a cry that can't be any more desperate or any more clear now," Biden said in his remarks, listing "a climate in crisis" and "a raging virus" as the major challenges for the country.

Biden "understands the value and the importance of multilateralism. He understands the importance of cooperation among nations," said former Colombian president and Nobel Peace Prize-winner Juan Manuel Santos.

"As a matter of fact, if we don't cooperate — all nations — to fight climate change, then we will all perish. It's as simple as that," Santos was quoted by The Associated Press.

Biden, the former vice-president during the Obama administration which signed the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, has campaigned on addressing what he called "the existential threat".

While Donald Trump cited concerns about the pact's risk to the US economy when he announced the withdrawal soon after he took office in 2017, Biden had told voters climate efforts increase well-paid jobs and boost the economy.

"We are going to combat climate change in a way we have not done so far," he said Wednesday, before signing the executive order, one of a flurry of actions to roll back Trump administration policies.

In an article he wrote in Foreign Affairs in April, Biden said he planned to "make massive, urgent investments at home that put the United States on track to have a clean energy economy with net-zero emissions by 2050''.

He also vowed to rally nations to "raise their ambitions and push progress further and faster".

Rachel Cleetus, climate and energy policy director for the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the new US administration's "swift action" to rejoin the Paris Agreement will be the first step to bring the country back into the fold of the global community, after four years of being isolated and on the sidelines.

Cleetus suggested in a statement that Biden and his international climate envoy, John Kerry, hold bilateral and multilateral discussions with other major emitting countries to solidify ways to collectively tackle the climate crisis head-on.

Kerry has said he expects to work with China on climate change.

"They were a partner on climate as we competed with them at other things during the Obama administration," Kerry said in an interview with National Public Radio early last month when asked if he can collaborate with China on climate issues as the countries compete elsewhere.

"We've been there, done that. But if we don't work as a primary extraordinary effort on climate, we're all cooked," said the former secretary of state.

The actions Biden signed Wednesday also included an order to establish a new White House office coordinating the response to the coronavirus and ending the process of withdrawing from the WHO.

More than 405,000 people have died of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, in the US as of Wednesday, according to John Hopkins University data.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the US rejoining the Paris pact and its re-engagement with the WHO, said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

"I warmly welcome President (Joe) Biden's steps to re-enter the Paris Agreement on climate change and join the growing coalition of governments, cities, states, businesses and people taking ambitious action to confront the climate crisis," Guterres said in a statement.

The Biden administration also intends to join the COVAX alliance, a global initiative by the WHO to ensure equitable global access to COVID-19 vaccines, according to US media reports.

China joined COVAX in October.

Guterres said that the initiative was "absolutely critical" for a better coordinated global response against COVID-19.

John Allen, president of the Brookings Institution, has said Washington and Beijing could work together to ramp up global inoculation against COVID-19 and cope with climate change.

Ryan Hass, a senior fellow at the Brookings John L. Thornton China Center, noted that the US and China joining the COVAX alliance could provide "a more frictionless" platform to coordinate contributions to global efforts to deliver more than 11 billion vaccine treatments to people on every continent than if they attempted to replicate COVAX's efforts on a bilateral basis.

Dr Eric J. Heikkila, professor at the Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California, noted that while Biden's message was addressed primarily to Americans, he also spoke to "those beyond our borders", pledging to be "a strong and trusted partner for peace, progress and security".

"This will no doubt create an opportunity for improved relations between China and the US, provided that China responds in a similar spirit," Heikkila said.

Liu Yinmeng in Los Angeles contributed to this story.


From : ChinaDaily

Author:本站 Page Views : 418

Contact Us  |  Join us | Links | Site Map

Website

Wechat