Accepting the end of an era while trying to reassure ourselves about the future. At 73 years old, Tom Vilsack is experiencing this strange moment for the second time in his political career. On Tuesday, November 19, the United States Secretary of State for Agriculture spoke at the 29my Climate Conference of the Parties (COP29) to defend outgoing President Joe Biden’s record. A final inventory before handing over command to Donald Trump’s administration. In 2016, the Democrat already held this position during the first elections of the New York real estate magnate.
With the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Biden had, according to him, “the most ambitious environmental agenda in American history.” And now? “People will continue [la transition] because they still want to benefit from the measures implemented by the Biden administration, financing is available, contracts have been signedhe estimated, listing part of the 369 billion dollars (348 billion euros) that the IRA allowed to start injecting into the green industry. There is a rising tide, there is momentum and no administration is in a position to stop it. »
Words very similar to those of Joe Biden. “Some may try to deny or delay the clean energy revolution taking place in the United States, but no one – no one – can reverse it.”the outgoing president launched on Sunday during a trip to Manaus, in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon jungle, on the sidelines of the G20 summit.
Climate skepticism
For just over a week, the 198 parties of the COP have also been experiencing this strange moment, typical of American politics, in which an outgoing president is still there while his successor monopolizes the talks. Especially when it comes to climate skeptic Donald Trump. At the head of the country that has emitted the most greenhouse gases in history, the Republican has promised to withdraw, as in 2017, from the Paris agreement. But in the negotiating rooms of Baku, it is still the Biden administration’s Democratic negotiators who are in charge. they behave “in a constructive way, as if they wanted to advance on the issues prior to Trump’s arrival and be able to start again in four years”assures an observer.
Before the G20 and during this COP29 dedicated to finance, the White House sent signals. Biden assured that the United States was now contributing $11 billion to climate finance. And he promised on Monday to contribute $4 billion to a World Bank fund that supports the poorest countries.
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