US to double climate change finance to poorer nations, says Biden
The US will again double the money it gives to help developing nations respond to climate change, President Biden has announced.
Mr Biden said in April that America would double its contribution to $5.7bn (£4.2bn), but speaking at the United Nations General Assembly he said it would increase again to over $11bn (£8bn).
In his first appearance at the UN since taking office in January, the president said he would work with the US Congress to secure the extra money.
Mr Biden hopes this commitment, along with increased private finance and contributions from other donors, will help developed countries meet the long-promised goal of delivering $100bn (£73bn) a year for developing countries to deal with the crisis.
The pledge was made in 2009 and was supposed to be achieved by 2020, but was missed by about $20bn, with the greatest shortfall coming from the US, according to ODI analysis.
The news will likely be welcomed by the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson who has used the Assembly to galvanise commitments on climate finance ahead of COP26, crucial climate talks hosted in Glasgow in November.
Meeting the climate finance pledge is seen as key to securing a successful outcome to COP26, where developing countries – who have usually done the least to contribute to climate change – will be reluctant to engage and make ambitious climate pledges without sufficient funding help.
President Biden told the UN the world must “work together as never before” in a year that has “brought widespread death and devastation from the borderless climate crisis” in the form of “extreme weather events… in every part of the world”.
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PM: COP26 a ‘turning point for the world’
“Scientists and experts are telling us that we’re fast approaching a point of no return,” warned the president.
He laid down the gauntlet to other nations, urging every state to “bring their highest possible ambition to the table” at COP26 in order to “keep within our reach the vital goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C”.
Mr Biden has been keen to re-establish America’s prime position on the world stage, as well as international alliances, after years of “America First” policies under Donald Trump.
He moved to reinstate the US commitment to the Paris climate agreement just hours after being sworn in.
Many more leaders will address the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, including Iran’s recently elected hardline president Ebrahim Raisi, and Chinese President Xi Jinping – who will give a pre-recorded video address.
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Charlie Kirk has been posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Donald Trump.
The USA’s highest civilian honour was received by the conservative activist’s widow, Erika, at the White House.
Mr Kirk, 31, was fatally shot on 10 September while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University.
He founded Turning Point USA and toured American university campuses, debating students about current affairs.
Erika Kirk at the White House. Pic: Reuters
Erika Kirk and Donald Trump. Pic: Reuters
Addressing those attending the ceremony in the White House rose garden, the US president said they were there to “honour and remember a fearless warrior for liberty” and a “beloved leader who galvanised the next generation”.
He said Mr Kirk’s name was being entered “forever into the eternal roster of true American heroes”.
Mr Trump described Charlie Kirk as an “American patriot of the deepest conviction, the finest quality and the highest calibre”.
He said his nation had been “robbed” of an “extraordinary champion”.
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Has Charlie Kirk become a MAGA ‘martyr’?
And Mr Trump said Mr Kirk was assassinated in the “prime of his life for boldly speaking the truth, for living his faith, and relentlessly fighting for a better and stronger America”.
The ceremony coincided with what would have been Mr Kirk’s 32nd birthday.
Mr Trump described Erika Kirk, now head of Turning Point USA, as someone who had “endured unspeakable hardship with unbelievable strength”.
Read more:
What do we know about Erika Kirk?
Charlie Kirk’s movement is growing in wake of his assassination
Charlie Kirk. File pic: AP
A 22-year-old man, Tyler Robinson, from the city of Washington in Utah has been charged with Mr Kirk’s murder. Prosecutors said they would seek the death penalty.
At a memorial event held at a stadium in Arizona, Erika Kirk told an enormous crowd she forgave her husband’s killer.
“The answer to hate is not hate,” she said.
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