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US President Joe Biden gives a speech on climate change in the White House
Photo: Evan Vucci / dpa
The new US President Joe Biden has ordered a halt to new oil and gas drilling on state-owned land in the fight against climate change.
Biden signed a decree in the White House with a moratorium on the granting of new drilling rights.
The president is also planning an international climate summit for April 22, known as Earth Day.
Former Secretary of State John Kerry was appointed as climate commissioner.
The Ministry of the Interior is instructed "as far as possible" not to approve any new oil and gas drilling on federal land and in offshore waters.
Existing contracts are not affected by this;
but they should be put to the test.
Drilling would be so restricted in both western states and the Gulf of Mexico.
Biden will reduce the use of the state "as much as possible".
In addition, around 30 percent of the state should be placed under nature protection by 2030.
Biden announced that the USA would again assume an international leadership role in the fight against global warming.
"We have to cite the global answer." The world has waited "too long to tackle the climate crisis," said the US Democrat.
"We can not wait anymore."
Kerry wants to make USA a role model for the climate
The new US administration's special envoy to the climate, John Kerry, wants to make his country an international role model for climate protection.
"The world will measure us by what we can do here at home," Kerry said at a press conference at the White House.
"You can't solve the problem alone, but what we do makes a huge difference." Kerry said there couldn't be more at stake in terms of climate change than it is now.
It is now a matter of making up for the last four years that have been lost.
Biden had already made anti-global warming one of his priorities during the election campaign and announced a U-turn to the policy of his predecessor Donald Trump.
Shortly after taking office, Biden announced a temporary drill stop in the Arctic and froze the Keystone XL oil pipeline project.
He also initiated the return of the USA to the Paris climate protection agreement.
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kim / AFP / Reuters / dpa