Climate boost

Joe Biden has signed executive orders to reverse some of the policies developed by Trump.

The package of decrees includes commitments to fight climate change.Evan Vucci / AP

As he had promised, one of the first orders signed by the new president of the United States, Joe Biden, has been the immediate re-entry into the Paris Agreement on climate change.

It is a step of great importance, since Donald Trump's decision to abandon him put at risk the objectives set five years ago.

Not only did it nullify most of the environmental protection measures promoted by Barack Obama, but it also led other reluctant countries such as Brazil, Australia or Mexico to put themselves behind the US. The Paris Agreement provides for each country to set its own own targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The US is the second largest emitter after China.

With just over 4% of the world's population, it is responsible for almost a third of all excess CO2 in the atmosphere.

Now, President Biden intends to promote a new Green New Deal to which he will allocate two trillion dollars in ten years.

A very positive change.

The decision comes at a crucial moment.

Warming is taking place faster and its effects more severe than was anticipated in 2015. A new record for hurricanes and extreme weather events was set last year, from devastating fires to torrential storms.

The average temperature of the planet has already risen 1.2 degrees Celsius and if no action is taken, by the end of the century it will exceed 3.2 degrees, which would lead us to a catastrophic scenario.

Europe has committed to achieving carbon neutrality (zero emissions or zero sum between emissions and removal) by 2050, a target that a hundred countries, including China, have signed up to by 2060. It is encouraging, but It is a long-term objective and there is a risk that the more immediate objectives will be missed in the meantime.

Only five countries have presented their new emissions plan and Article 6 of the Paris Agreement on the carbon market has yet to be developed.

Public opinion is increasingly aware and demands effective and concrete steps from the rulers.

Gestures abound, such as that of the French president, Emmanuel Macron, who has just proposed a referendum for environmental protection to appear in Article 1 of the Constitution.

Some jurists observe that the gesture is useless, since the 2004 Environmental Charter is already part of the French constitutional body.

Whether or not it is an electoral maneuver, what is relevant is that it is a request from the Citizen's Climate Convention, a new deliberation system whose members were chosen by lottery, and can serve to reinforce the climate agenda.

The Paris Agreement needs a new boost.

The leadership of the EU and the reincorporation of the USA can give it to you.