At the United Nations General Assembly, President Joe Biden said he would work with Congress to double funding to help developing countries fight against climate change.
Biden has pledged to double funds to $11.4 billion per year by 2024 to support developing nations shifting away from more dirty energy sources like coal, adding to the global goal of $100 billion per year in support of climate change action for vulnerable countries, Reuters reports.
Biden’s commitment comes six weeks before the Oct. 31 to Nov. 12 COP26 Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland. The President’s climate change plan is primarily tied to his ambitious infrastructure and budget legislation, which is still under intense negotiation in Congress, exposing Biden to the risk of arriving at the summit with no natural backing.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson argued that meeting the climate finance target will build trust between developing and developed countries ahead of new negotiations after developed nations failed to meet the initial $100 billion per year pledge by their original goal of 2020.
Developing countries have been urging more advanced economies to provide financial aid to help them transition to clean energy technologies and fight against the negative impacts of climate change.
“President Biden’s commitment to scaling up international climate finance to $11.4 billion per year by 2024 is a welcome and much-needed sign. The United States is finally taking its global climate responsibilities seriously,” Rachel Cleetus, policy director at the Union of Concerned Scientists, told.
However, some critics warned that it is not enough.
“The US is still woefully short of what it owes, and this needs to be increased urgently,” Mohamed Adow, director of Power Shift Africa, told.
