BY STAFF REPORTER
Through the application of market, technology and policy drivers, the United States has significantly reduced its greenhouse gas emissions over the past decade. Although the new administration will likely revise or reverse key federal climate policies, there remains strong momentum toward further reductions in U.S. emissions.
During the meeting held in Shanghai, China, the US and China, the two largest contributors of greenhouse gas emission have signed an agreement to collaborate on addressing the globally looming climate crisis.
The statement issued at the end of the meeting states that The United States and China are committed to cooperating with each other and with other countries to tackle the climate crisis, which must be addressed with the seriousness and urgency that it demands.
This includes both enhancing their respective actions and cooperating in multilateral processes, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement. Both countries recall their historic contribution to the development, adoption, signature, and entry into force of the Paris Agreement through their leadership and collaboration.
Secondly, moving forward, the United States and China are firmly committed to working together and with other Parties to strengthen implementation of the Paris Agreement. The two sides recall the Agreement’s aim in accordance with Article 2 to hold the global average temperature increase to well below 2 degrees C and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees C. In that regard, they are committed to pursuing such efforts, including by taking enhanced climate actions that raise ambition in the 2020s in the context of the Paris Agreement with the aim of keeping the above temperature limit within reach and cooperating to identify and address related challenges and opportunities.
Both countries look forward to the US-hosted Leaders’ Summit on Climate on April 22/23. They share the Summit’s goal of raising global climate ambition on mitigation, adaptation, and support on the road to COP 26 in Glasgow, it further indicated.
The United States and China will take other actions in the short term to further contribute to addressing the climate crisis including to develop by COP 26 in Glasgow their respective long-term strategies aimed at net zero GHG emissions/carbon neutrality, to take appropriate actions to maximize international investment and finance in support of the transition from carbon-intensive fossil fuel based energy to green, low-carbon and renewable energy in developing countries, they will each implement the phasedown of hydrofluorocarbon production and consumption reflected in the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol.
The United States and China will continue to discuss, both on the road to COP 26 and beyond, concrete actions in the 2020s to reduce emissions aimed at keeping the Paris Agreement-aligned temperature limit within reach, including Policies, measures, and technologies to decarbonize industry and power, including through circular economy, energy storage and grid reliability, CCUS, and green hydrogen; Increased deployment of renewable energy; Green and climate resilient agriculture; Energy efficient buildings; Green, low-carbon transportation; Cooperation on addressing emissions of methane and other non-CO2 greenhouse gases; cooperation on addressing emissions from international civil aviation and maritime activities; and other near-term policies and measures, including with respect to reducing emissions from coal, oil, and gas.
The two sides will cooperate to promote a successful COP 26 in Glasgow, aiming to complete the implementation arrangements for the Paris Agreement (e.g., under Article 6 and Article 13) and to significantly advance global climate ambition on mitigation, adaptation, and support. They will further cooperate to promote a successful COP 15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Kunming, noting the importance of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, including its relevance to climate mitigation and adaptation.
On top of the deal made with China, the United States said on Thursday has disclosed that it would boost public climate finance to help poor countries reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to a changing climate, doubling funding by 2024 from high average levels hit during the Obama administration.
The White House said it was embracing “ambitious but attainable goals” for international aid to developing countries, given the urgency of the climate crisis and to compensate for a sharp drop in U.S. funding during the Trump administration.
The White House said that by 2024 it would triple financing of climate adaptation, which focuses on adjustments to current or expected climate change. It said it would work with Congress to enact needed legislation.
The Biden administration released its climate finance plan in tandem with a new goal to cut emissions by 50%-52% from 2005 levels.
Leonardo Martinez-Diaz, a top aide to Biden’s climate envoy John Kerry, said total U.S. international public climate finance averaged around $2.8 billion a year during the baseline period from fiscal 2013-2017, with around $500 million going toward adaptation. That was the most recent period when U.S. climate finance was at an all-time high, he said on Twitter.
A handful of nongovernmental organizations said on Thursday the United States, the world’s second leading emitter after China, would have to contribute $800 billion in international climate finance through 2030 for its “fair share.”
“The United States has an obligation to provide finance and other forms of support to enable emissions cuts in poorer countries, and to ensure that frontline communities in those countries can survive the climate impacts that are already happening,” said Niranjali Amerasinghe, Executive Director of ActionAid USA.
In a fact sheet on the climate finance plan, the White House said U.S. agencies, working with development partners, would prioritize climate in their investments, expand technical assistance and increase funding for adaptation and resilience.
It said the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) would release a new Climate Change Strategy in November 2021, at the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26).
USAID said it would leverage $250 million in federal funding to attract $3.5 billion in private sector financing for climate-related work over the next three years, and aimed to sharply scale up climate finance programs in 20 fast-growing economies.
The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) would change its development strategy to include climate for the first time, and prioritize climate mitigation and adaptation.
The Millennium Challenge Corporation’s new climate strategy would focus on climate-smart development and sustainable infrastructure, aiming to put more than 50% of its funding into climate-related investments over the next five years, it said.
The U.S. Treasury, which this week named a climate czar, would direct U.S. executive directors in multilateral development banks such as the World Bank to ensure they set and applied ambitious climate finance targets and policies.
The plan also calls for ending international investments in carbon-intensive fossil fuel-based energy projects, and steering capital toward climate-aligned investments, a goal long sought by environmental groups.
Treasury, together with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, will spearhead efforts to modify guidelines for official export financing to reorient financing away from carbon-intensive activities, it said.
The Ethiopian Herald April 25/2021
