"Diplomatically and on the declaratory level Dems have done a lot, from rejoining the Paris Accord and hosting a Climate Leaders’ Summit to the passing of ambitious legislations which allocate hundreds of billions toward clean energy initiatives," Dr. Gal Luft, co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security and a senior adviser to the United States Energy Security Council told Sputnik. "But the test will be in the implementation: how much of the money will actually be deployed and put to good use?"
During his Friday speech at the COP27, Joe Biden asked world leaders to "do more," unveiled several new measures, including a plan to slash emissions of methane in the US, and supported the UN-led Executive Action Plan for the Early Warnings for All initiative to ensure everyone on the planet is protected by early warning systems within the next five years.
Meanwhile, the chief climate negotiator for the G77, the largest bloc of developing nations, told the US mainstream press about the idea of taxing fossil fuel companies to pay for "loss and damage" — the climate change-related irreversible harms affecting vulnerable nations, that are reaping the whirlwind of environmental pollution caused by developed states. However, there was no reference to the issue of loss and damage in Biden's speech.
Luft is skeptical about the Biden administration's ability to deliver on its climate promises or launch new climate initiatives.
"The reality is that despite all the actions taken, the nature of the US political system and the frequent shifts between Republican and Democratic administrations are not conducive to policy continuity needed for the business community to make the necessary investments," the scholar said. "Under a Republican Congress, there will be no new climate bills. The only question is whether the GOP will allow the implementation of the bills already enacted, or will it water them down. After all, the power of the purse is always in the hands of Congress."
Still, it's not only the GOP who throws sand in Biden's climate agenda's gears: according to Luft, "the biggest spoiler of Biden’s climate agenda has been Democratic senator Joe Manchin from the coal state of West Virginia."
Luft is by no means surprised by the fact that Biden avoided mentioning the loss and damage issue in his speech. According to the scholar, Biden "knows that he has no authority to make such payments." Furthermore, Republican lawmakers, who are projected to take control of the House of Representatives, are unlikely to support the idea of taxing fossil fuel companies to pay compensation to developing nations. Earlier, Biden's climate czar, John Kerry, specifically warned G77 against trying to hold the US "liable" for environmental pollution, stressing that these attempts would cause a lot of problems.
"Congress will never allow this because this will open the door to numerous claims for reparation for every sin ever committed – including slavery. It’s a dangerous Pandora Box that no sane US president can afford to open," Luft said.
US Driven by Corporate Interests
Biden's Friday speech was briefly interrupted by environmental activists from the US, calling on the US president to stop pushing fossil fuel extraction. Indeed, in the wake of the global energy crunch, Biden has not only released millions of barrels of oil from the US strategic reserve, but he has also green-lit fracking, in direct contradiction to his "green" election promises. The left-leaning media has raised the alarm over the fact that planned oil and gas extraction projects in the US could tip the world to the edge of climate disaster.
In addition to that, the US and UK are poised to announce a major natural gas deal between the countries at COP27. The move appears to be particularly hypocritical, given US climate envoy John Kerry's recent warning against investing in long-term gas projects in Africa, under the pretext that global players must get rid of natural gas to reach a net-zero goal by 2050.
"First and foremost, the US approach is only to do what proves profitable for its largest corporations," emphasized Radhika Desai, professor at the Department of Political Studies, and director of the Geopolitical Economy Research Group at the University of Manitoba.
According to Desai, if one looks at Washington's climate agenda in the context of US corporate and financial vested interests, one would see no contradictions in Biden's approach. She suggested that the US president knows that the GOP-controlled House won't let him implement his ambitious climate plans. "The Biden administration can have the double luxury of not moving on climate issues and blaming the Republicans for it," Desai remarked.
"The Biden administration’s proxy war on Russia has set back climate goals massively: making Europe reliant on US LNG as opposed to Russian gas is not only more expensive but has a far greater carbon footprint," the professor underscored.
Selective Approach to Climate Change
The US is maintaining a selective approach toward climate change goals; at the same time, it uses the climate agenda as a stick against its geopolitical competitors, according to Desai.
"On the international [scale], the US also indulges in enmeshing the climate issue with its competition and conflict with China, preferring to weaponize climate issues rather than creating the atmosphere of cooperation that is necessary to address the climate issue effectively," she pointed out.
Furthermore, "the US’s imperialist strategy also ensures, of course, that the world’s developing countries cannot expect any help with loss and damage that they seek," the professor underscored.
"[The West's] imperial power is receding, and it is committed to doing everything in its power to shore it up. This involves not admitting responsibility for historical climate injustice issues," she said.
In addition to that, the collective West's economies are not in good shape, Luft noted: "With the backdrop of the pandemic and the war in Europe the West’s economies are on the verge of recession and lacking the funds to support the Global South," he assumed. "There is not enough money to come even close to meeting the expectations of the developing world."
However, neither inflation nor recession prevented the US and its NATO allies from spending billions on their proxy war against Russia in Ukraine. The US, EU, UK, and some other developed nations have pledged a whopping €93.73Bln ($93.62Bln) in the military, financial, and humanitarian aid to Ukraine between January and October 2022, according to the Germany-based Kiel Institute for the World Economy.