Harris is going to the climate summit
Climate Change is not a priority for VP Biden, nor is he interested in his 2020 campaign? A study by Sunrise and The New York Times
“While it’s positive to have VP Harris at COP28, Biden’s absence still suggests to the public that leadership on global climate solutions is not his priority,” Sunrise political director Michele Weindling told NPR in a statement.
Chinese president Xi Jinping will also skip this year’s talks, although he is sending a delegation of high-level officials in his place. After suspending work on tackling climate change because of the tension between the two countries, Biden and Xi agreed to resume work this month.
The White House did not give any update on Biden’s schedule, but did say that special envoy John Kerry and others would be there.
The source pointed to a New York Times story from November which stated that Harris was not going to attend the conference.
Addressing climate change was a key part of Biden’s campaign messaging during his 2020 campaign, and when he took office, he named it a top priority for his administration. Last year he signed the Inflation Reduction Act, which will invest $369 billion into curbing emissions.
Climate activists are still calling on the administration to take further action. Sunrise Movement is calling on Biden to attend this year’s conference.
Young voters could play a crucial role in Biden’s reelection bid next year after helping propel him to victory in 2020. But their support isn’t guaranteed.
Environmental issues remain a top issue for many younger voters. According to a summer poll by NPR, PBS NewsHour and Marist, more than six in 10 Americans believe addressing climate change is a priority even at the risk of slowing economic growth.
Global Climate Talks Begin in Dubai, with an Oil Executive in Charge: The Saudi Arabian State Oil Company as the Founder of the United Arab Emirates
The goal of the meeting is to make progress in reducing emissions and agree on how to pay for a hotter planet.
This year’s talks have been controversial because of the person leading them. The petroleum-dependent host country, the United Arab Emirates, named the head of its main state oil company, Sultan al-Jaber, as the climate meeting’s president. Concerns among climate experts and activists point to the need for people to stop burning fossil fuels to protect ourselves from catastrophic climate change.
This year’s negotiations come at the close of the hottest year ever recorded on Earth. Extreme weather events, including floods, are becoming more deadly and disruptive.
At the opening ceremony of the negotiations, the head of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change stated that there were so many terrifying records broken. “We are paying with people’s lives and livelihoods.”
Scientists warn that greenhouse gas pollution must plummet immediately in order to avoid catastrophic climate change effects, such as mass extinctions and runaway sea level rise by the end of this century.
Source: Global climate talks begin in Dubai, with an oil executive in charge
The U.S. is the most cumulative carbon-evaporating country in the world – but not all world leaders are attending the UN climate negotiations
Not all world leaders are attending this year’s negotiations. President Biden will not travel to Dubai, although Vice President Kamala Harris did announce last-minute plans to attend, along with special climate envoy John Kerry.
The countries most responsible for causing climate change are trying to determine if they will follow through on their promises to help vulnerable countries adapt to a hotter world. The United States is front-and-center in that debate: the U.S. has released the most cumulative planet-warming pollution into the atmosphere overall, going back to the mid-1800s.
