Since the beginning of November, top diplomats from almost 200 countries have been negotiating the future of the planet at the UN climate conference.
The summit, also known as COP26 (26th
C
onference
o
f the
P
arties), will take place in Glasgow, Scotland.
Several aspects of the Paris Climate Agreement are on the agenda.
It is the most important climate protection event of the year.
In the »Climate Report - the SPIEGEL Podcast on the State of the Planet«, we observe the two-week summit and talk about the most important debates and decisions.
In this second episode, we draw an interim conclusion and look at the USA - the country that wants to take on a pioneering role in matters of climate protection.
In historical terms, the United States has caused the highest number of CO₂ emissions worldwide.
Even today, the country ranks second among the countries with the highest emissions, just behind China.
After four years of Donald Trump, who publicly denied global warming and did not even appear at previous climate conferences, the incumbent US President Joe Biden now apparently wants to speed up climate protection.
With a speech in Glasgow, Biden called on the UN member states to cooperate more closely;
dozens of US government officials traveled with him to the climate summit to take part in the debates.
The US, it seems, wants to play a pioneering role in climate protection.
That is not entirely altruistic, however.
Marc Pitzke, the USA correspondent for SPIEGEL, says in the podcast:
“Everything the US government is doing right now has to be seen in context: China is a big problem on many levels, especially now in climate policy.
And of course Biden wants the Europeans to turn more to the USA than they are now, for example, to China. "
Actually, Biden wanted to go to Glasgow with a multi-billion dollar climate protection package in his luggage.
The problem: The US Congress slowed down the project for weeks.
Due to continued opposition from influential Senator Joe Manchin, the program was cut down.
“Biden opened in Glasgow with great expectations and wanted to announce the triumphant return of the USA after Trump's desolate years.
But now he comes empty-handed «, says Marc Pitzke
In this episode of »Climate Report«, our podcast on the climate crisis, we pursue the following questions: What role does the USA play in climate protection?
And is global climate protection even feasible without the United States?
Curious?
Then listen to our »climate report« now: