US President Joe Biden arrived in Egypt on Friday for a climate summit, his first stop on a world tour that will also take him to a meeting of South Asian nations in Cambodia and the Group of 20 summit in Bali.
At the UN climate conference in the seaside resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Biden will almost certainly face questions about how far the United States intends to go to pressure the other big emitters of greenhouse gases.
Biden boarded Air Force One on Thursday night, buoyed by better-than-expected results from Democrats in Tuesday’s midterm elections, Congressional approval this year of one of the largest climate investments in US history, and defeats. Russian military in Ukraine.
Rule for methane emissions
At the climate conference, Biden will discuss a new supplemental rule that goes into effect Friday that cracks down on methane emissions, a measure that expands on a similar regulation his administration approved the previous year.
The 2021 rule targeted emissions of methane — a powerful greenhouse gas that contributes significantly to global warming — from existing oil and gas fields across the country, rather than targeting new fields, as previous regulations have done. from the Environmental Protection Agency. But this year’s rule goes further, covering all drilling sites, including smaller wells that emit less than 2.7 metric tons of methane a year.
Biden will also highlight one of the biggest achievements on his national agenda: the Democrats’ sweeping public health and climate change bill, known as the Reduce Inflation Act.
The US allocation of some $375 billion over a decade to combat climate change gives Biden greater leverage to pressure other countries to make good on promises to cut greenhouse gas emissions and move the global economy toward clean energy sources.
After his brief stopover in Egypt, Biden will travel to Cambodia for the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Countries, where he will reiterate the United States’ commitment to the region in the face of Chinese influence.
Later in Indonesia, the US president plans to meet for the first time as president with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, with whom he planned to discuss rising tensions between Washington and Beijing over Taiwan, trade policies, China’s relations with Russia and other issues.
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President Joe Biden @POTUS arrived in Egypt to participate in the Climate Summit, his tour includes visits to other countries to promote the international agenda of #USA.
