Joe Biden asserts America’s role in the fight against climate change

The Economist

Joe Biden asserts America’s role in the fight against climate change

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Editors note: This article has been updated to take in news of Joe Bidens climate summit, which occurred after The Economist went to press MEETINGS OF GLOBAL leaders always combine, in varying proportions, pomp, substance, glitches and questionable set design. The first day of President Joe Bidens virtual climate summit on April 22nd was no different. There were lofty declarations and flurries of press releases. Presidents spoke from desks festooned by flags. Mr Bidenalong with John Kerry and Antony Blinken, Americas climate envoy and secretary of state, respectivelysat at a desk curved around an oddly scraggly patch of grass. And there was a long silence when Americas president and most senior statesmen waited awkwardly while staring at a jumbo screen that showed Vladimir Putin, Russias president, looking bored and vaguely annoyed. But the meeting was in other ways unprecedented: a sign of Mr Bidens resolve to assert American leadership on climate after years of abdication under Donald Trump. As the two-day summit began, he set a target for reducing American emissions by 50-52% below 2005 levels by 2030. The White House hopes other countries will set their own bold targets before the next big United Nations climate conference, in Glasgow in November. By the close of the summits first day, Mr Bidens determination was plain. So was the difficulty of the task ahead. By some measures, the summit already looked a qualified success. Mr Biden convinced both allies and adversaries to participate, even if their declarations were sometimes vague. Xi Jinping, Chinas president, said he would strictly limit the increase in coal consumption. Mr Biden also showed his seriousness by setting an ambitious target, or nationally determined contribution (NDC). His target matched that hoped for by environmental campaigners. That counts as real progress for an American president, even if Mr Trump had not set a subterranean bar. An NDC is required by the Paris agreement, which Mr Trump rejected and to which Mr Biden has renewed Americas commitment. Japan and Canada announced new targets, too. An analysis from the Rhodium Group, a think-tank, shows Americas new NDC to be among the worlds most ambitious (see chart). Other leaders have reasons to eye American promises with scepticism. In the 1990s Bill Clintons administration negotiated the Kyoto protocol, but the Senate declined to ratify it. Barack Obama pushed for the Paris agreement, only to have Mr Trump declare in 2017 that America would withdraw. Mr Obama promised to supply $3bn in climate finance for poorer countries; $2bn of that is still outstanding. Mr Biden has sought to restore Americas credibility. On his first day as president he announced that America would rejoin the Paris agreement. His infrastructure bill, presented in March, includes support for electric cars, renewables and energy innovation, as well as a clean-electricity standard requiring the power system to be emissions-free by 2035. If passed, the plan would be Americas most important climate legislation ever. Yet Mr Bidens efforts face challenges at home and abroad. The Environmental Defence Fund, a research and advocacy group, had urged an ambitious and credible target for American emissions, but those traits may be mutually exclusive. Republican opposition means that Mr Bidens infrastructure bill may not pass the Senate as proposed. Even if it did, it might not ensure a 50% reduction in emissions by 2030. Climate Action Tracker, a policy group, reckons that at least 95% of car sales in America must be zero emissions by 2030. Mr Biden proposes support for electric cars, but no deadline for phasing out petrol guzzlers. Eventually we are going to need additional climate legislation in the forms of standards, mandates, a carbon price, argues Jason Bordoff, a former adviser to Barack Obama and the co-dean of Columbia Universitys Climate School. Mr Bidens attempt to encourage decarbonisation abroad is no simpler. At Mr Bidens summit, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Mexicos president, spoke of linking climate co-operation with a broader agreement on immigration. Americas most important foreign partner is the one with which relations have most steeply declined. The International Energy Agency expects China to account for more than half the rebound in coal consumption this year. Mr Kerry, in a visit to Shanghai this month, urged that climate be a stand-alone issue. Li Yifei, a professor of environmental studies at NYU Shanghai and co-author of China Goes Green, an analysis of Chinese environmental policy, contends that climate is inextricable from debates over geopolitical influence, intellectual property or industrial policy. Climate change, by definition, is not a stand-alone issue, he argues. Indeed Mr Bidens action on climate may be characterised by competition as much as co-operation. China has long backed domestic clean-energy industries and foreign energy projects. Mr Biden intends America rapidly to increase its investments in both. Within America, Mr Biden wants to invest in energy innovation and green manufacturing, to challenge Chinas dominance to date. Its difficult to imagine the United States winning the long-term strategic competition with China if we cannot lead the renewable energy revolution, Mr Blinken explained earlier this week. Abroad, Mr Biden intends Americas Development Finance Corporation to devote at least one-third of new investments to climate from 2023. Working with multilateral development banks, America could provide poorer countries with a clean alternative to Chinese-backed coal plants. As poor and middle-income countries struggle with debt, the White House has signalled support for climate-linked relief. Mr Bordoff points to debt relief in the 1980s tied to investments in biodiversity. You might imagine something like climate-for-debt swaps to drive investment in low-carbon energy, he says. Mr Bidens summit is so far as successful as he could have reasonably expected. The most important work is still to come. . And for more coverage of Joe Bidens presidency, visit our dedicated hub