US President Joe Biden signs an executive order to rejoin the Paris Agreement on climate change: White House
Biden's action on Paris sends a strong message that the US is prepared to cooperate in the fight against climate change and to reclaim the leadership role it once held.
The 46th US President Joe Biden signed an executive order to rejoin the Paris climate accord on Wednesday (local time).
“I, Joseph R Biden Jr, President of the United States of America, having seen and considered the Paris Agreement, done at Paris on December 12, 2015, do hereby accept the said Agreement and every article and clause thereof on behalf of the United States of America,” read the order. “We are going to combat climate change in a way we have not done so far,” Biden said.
Paris accord goal is related to limit global warming to well below 2° Celsius, and preferably limit it to 1.5° Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.
It was adopted by 196 countries at Conference of the Parties COP 21 in Paris in December 2015 and signed on 22nd April 2016.
However, US President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement in November 2020 making the signatories nation number to 195.
The move by Biden has drawn accolades from Sundar Pichai, Google CEO who applauded him with the tweet, “We applaud @POTUS’s quick action on COVID relief, the Paris Climate Accord, and immigration reform. Google has supported action on these important issues & we look forward to working with the new administration to help the US recover from the pandemic + grow our economy”.
Meanwhile, the new Press Secretary of White House Jen Psaki called for policies to address the epithet, ‘US – world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases’.
“United States continues to be one of the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases. We need to put in place policies and take steps here to address that as well,” said Jen Psaki, White House Press Secretary.