Accept the end of an era while trying to reassure about the future. At 73, Tom Vilsack is experiencing this strange moment for the second time in his political career. Tuesday, November 19, the Secretary of State for Agriculture of the United States spoke at the 29e Climate Conference of the Parties (COP29) to defend the record of outgoing President Joe Biden. A final inventory before once again handing over to the administration of Donald Trump. In 2016, the Democrat was already in this position during the New York real estate mogul's first election.
With the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Mr. Biden had, according to him, “the most ambitious environmental agenda in the history of the United States”. And now ? “People will continue [la transition] because they still want to benefit from the measures put in place by the Biden administration, the funding is available, contracts have been signedhe estimated, listing part of the 369 billion dollars (348 billion euros) that the IRA made it possible to start injecting into the green industry. There is a growing wave, there is momentum, no administration is in a position to stop it. »
Words very similar to those of Joe Biden. “Some may seek to deny or delay the clean energy revolution underway in the United States, but no one – no one – can reverse it.”launched the outgoing president on Sunday during a trip to Manaus in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon forest on the sidelines of the G20 summit.
Climate skepticism
For a little over a week, the 198 parties of the COP have also been experiencing this strange moment, typical of American politics, when an outgoing president is still there while his successor monopolizes the conversations. Especially when it comes to climate skeptic Donald Trump. At the head of the country that has emitted the most greenhouse gases in history, the Republican has promised to withdraw, as in 2017, from the Paris agreement. But, in the negotiating rooms of Baku, it is still the Democratic negotiators of the Biden administration who are in charge. They behave “constructive way, as if they wanted to move forward on the issues before the arrival of Trump and be able to start again in four years”assures an observer.
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Before the G20 and during this COP29 devoted to finance, the White House sent signals. Mr. Biden assured that the United States was now contributing $11 billion to climate finance. And he pledged on Monday to contribute $4 billion to a World Bank fund that supports the poorest countries.
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