Biden pledges $1BILLION to help other countries around the world fight climate change

President Joe Biden on Thursday announced $1 billion in funding to help developing countries fight climate change and said he planned to find $500 million to curb deforestation in the Amazon rainforest during a virtual meeting with leaders from some of the the world’s richest countries.

The money for the Green Climate Fund marks a resumption of US funding after it was neglected by the Trump administration.

It will be used to help poorer countries build stronger climate infrastructure.

“Today, we need to do more than acknowledge the climate challenges we face,” Biden said.

“It seems to me that we should recommit to action while we still have time.”

He spoke with leaders of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate, which the White House says are responsible for about 80 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and global gross domestic product.

On the call were leaders from Germany, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Egypt, Australia and others.

The $1 billion will come from the Inflation Reduction Act, passed last year.

But funding for the Amazon is less certain. Biden will have to work with Congress to secure the $500 million.

The president said progress has already been made in limiting temperature increases, but more needs to be done.

“We’re already seeing the signs of what’s to come if we don’t, more severe droughts, more floods, rising seas, rising temperatures, unstable weather, market unpredictability,” he said.

“Look, together we can keep the goal of limiting warming to no more than 1.5 degrees, it’s within our reach… carbon greenhouse gas emissions and improving carbon management.”

Biden has made fighting climate change one of his top priorities.

“The United States is taking bold steps to put our energy sector on a path to net-zero emissions by 2050 at the latest,” he said.

Biden also said he planned to find $500 million to help curb deforestation in the Amazon rainforest during a virtual meeting with leaders from some of the world’s richest countries.

On the call were leaders from Germany, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Egypt, Australia and others for a meeting of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate

And he urged other countries to follow the US lead on zero-emission vehicles.

“I encourage you all to join us in our shared goal of ensuring that at least 50% of new passenger cars and 30% of trucks are zero-emission by 2032,” he said.

And then deforestation. Forests are the key to our future. In the United States alone, our forests absorb more than 10 percent of our annual greenhouse gas emissions.

“And as we all know, if we lose this natural resource, we can’t easily get it back.”

The head of the Green Climate Fund welcomed the new US contribution.

“This money provides urgently needed climate finance for the world’s most vulnerable countries,” said acting executive director Henry Gonzalez.

“The $1 billion will build population resilience in least developed countries, protect small island developing states threatened by climate change, and support the transition to low-emission, climate-resilient development around the world.”