The advantage of a virtual summit is that you always have to go through the presidency box to order the debates. Thus, it is Joe Biden’s America which was constantly at the center of the game in the summit of world leaders on the climate, which began on Thursday, April 22.
Operation seduction began on the day of Joe Biden’s inauguration, when he announced the return of the United States to the Paris agreement that Donald Trump had left. It culminated at the opening of the summit with Mr. Biden’s announcement of new greenhouse gas reduction targets. “ The United States is on the path to halving greenhouse gas emissions by the end of this decade ”, said the Democratic president.
Specifically, the United States will commit at the Glasgow climate conference to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 50 to 52% by 2030 compared to the peak reached in 2005. It is higher. than that taken by Barack Obama, which aimed at a reduction of between 26 and 28% from 2005 to 2025. In 2019, the United States had reduced its emissions by 13%, due in particular to the massive closure of replaced coal plants by shale gas and renewable energies.
This figure would have reached 21% in 2020, according to the environmental protection agenda, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but is therefore not significant and should rebound strongly in 2021 with the reopening of the economy. . Mr. Biden’s target is lower than the 55% since 1990 adopted by the European Union (the American promise would amount to a 43% decline since 1990) and Americans still emit 2.4 times more CO2 per capita than the European Union.
Reconnect with multilateralism
This American announcement nevertheless had a ripple effect, which allowed the United States to find itself at the center of the world game and to reconnect with multilateralism, after four years of withdrawal under Donald Trump. After United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke first. It was with him that John Kerry, negotiator under Barack Obama, signed a decisive agreement opening in 2015 the path to the Paris agreement. It was decided to isolate the climate from other conflicts, and Xi promised to reduce the use of coal.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was also present, despite the recall of ambassadors from both countries. The order of speakers reflected the global geography of American diplomacy (China, India, United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Bangladesh). As if the Europeans were acquired in advance, who were shouting to greet the return of the United States, while they had their leadership stolen: German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke in seventh, French President Emmanuel Macron in ninth , relegated by Mr. Poutine due to a technical problem.
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