US President Joe Biden, assuring that the United States was doing its part, called on Friday at COP27 “all countries” to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to limit global warming which threatens “the very life of the planet “. “The United States has acted, everyone must act, it is the responsibility of global leadership,” he said during a short appearance in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt for the annual conference of UN on climate.
“To win this fight, each country among the main emitters must align itself with +1.5°C”, he added in this 22-minute speech interrupted for a few seconds by activists against fossil fuels. The Paris agreement aims to limit warming to well below +2°C compared to the pre-industrial era, if possible +1.50°C. The text provides for a shared, but “differentiated” responsibility of the countries in this context. However, developing countries regularly remind developed countries of their responsibility for emissions, asking them to do more.
Get out of dependence on fossil fuels
“We can no longer plead ignorance about the consequences of our actions or continue to make the same mistakes,” insisted the American president. “The climate crisis is about human security, economic security, national security and the very life of the planet.”
In this context, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has led to a global energy crisis, “only reinforces the urgency for the world to get out of its dependence on fossil fuels”, he said. underline.
“The United States will respect its objectives”
He also assured that the United States was “on track” to meet its objectives of reducing its emissions by 50 to 52% by 2030. “The United States will meet its objectives”.
While Americans voted Tuesday for crucial midterm elections, Joe Biden was not present at the summit which brought together a hundred heads of state and government in Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday and Tuesday.
He made a short stopover in Egypt before traveling to Cambodia for an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit and Indonesia for a G20 summit.