NEW YORK, New York – Biden announced during the UN General Assembly his intentions to double the US climate finance pledge from the original $5.7bn April pledge.
Biden aims to make the US one of the leaders in international climate finance by increasing its contribution among the other nations. However, this contribution does not singlehandedly compensate for the current global funding contributions of other countries.
Biden announces that the world is about to reach a “point of no return.”
Currently, the richer countries failed to deliver almost $100bn, hindering proper growth for vulnerable countries in reducing their carbon emissions and other climate issues. There is currently a $20bn gap that continues to widen since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Unfortunately, presidents before Biden failed to bridge the gap in the country’s climate finance contribution.
Former President Barack Obama only managed to contribute $3bn to the Green Climate Fund and $1bn before leaving office.
Furthermore, Former President Donald Trump delivered the least climate finance contribution between the three most recent presidents. His contribution is lower than Germany, France, and the UK.
Despite Biden’s double pledge, the US still fails to contribute sufficiently to the $100 billion climate goal. Based on the ODI analysis, the US should provide at least $43bn to $50 bn each year.
NGOs believe the US still owes more to the developing world by at least $800bn. The director of climate and energy justice, Karen Orenstein, deemed the contribution incredibly insufficient to what the climate demands.
