President Joe Biden’s first stop on his global trip after the grueling midterm elections is Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, for the U.N.’s Climate Change Conference.
During his visit, he reaffirmed America’s commitment to cut emissions in accordance with the Paris Agreement and announced initiatives that will aid global efforts.
“This gathering must be the moment to recommit our future and our shared capacity to write a better story for the world,” he said.
“We’re not ignoring harbingers that are already here,” Biden said, per The Washington Post. “So many disasters — the climate crisis is hitting hardest those countries and communities that have the fewest resources to respond and to recover.”
The president acknowledged the disasters that African nations may face, such as large-scale droughts and the hunger that follows, and announced that the U.S. will contribute nearly $250 million to funds that tackle climate resilience — whether it’s supporting adaption efforts or expanded warning systems, per Fox News.
“Developing country negotiators are ... eager to get more reassurance that the United States will throw its weight behind creating a collective funding stream to help them recover from devastating losses from climate disasters,” Ani Dasgupta, president of the World Resources Institute, said in a statement, per Axios.
During his address, Biden also said that the U.S. is on track to cut emissions by half or more by 2030 while reducing methane emissions by 30% by that year.
He touted his administration's efforts to pass the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes climate action-related investments.
Although, BBC correspondent Matt McGrath notes that Biden’s visit may not be the highlight of the climate talks.
The U.S. and China are the world’s biggest carbon polluters, so it's crucial that these two countries work together, according to BBC. But the relationship has staggered since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.
After Egypt, Biden is headed to Cambodia to attend a conference of the Southeast Asian nations and then, to Bali for the Group of 20 summit, where China will be present, per CNN.
“If the United States tomorrow were to, quote, withdraw from the world, a lot of things would change around the world. A whole lot would change,” Biden said ahead of his trip.