U.S. boards climate response journey with USD 369 billion bill

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By S Jha

New Delhi, August 8: A day after China suspended climate talks with the U.S., the American Senate has approved a bill to commit the largest economy of the world to cut down the carbon emissions from the 2005 level by 40 per cent, while committing USD 369 billion in the ensuing efforts.

The bill is likely to be signed into a law as the US House of representatives controlled by the Democrat would give it a smooth sailing, handing over the papers to the U.S. President Joe Biden to sign into an Act.

The bill is, however, scaled down the financial commitment of the US, which had earlier been pegged at USD 700 billion.

The bill indeed brings cheers to many as the global average temperature has been documented to have risen by 1.1 degree Celsius.

The UN Sustainable Development Goal 2022 Report had grimly noted that the 200 countries who had signed the commitment to fulfil the goals failed in their resolves, as they failed to fulfil any of their promises on 17 goals, including climate change response.

The bill was approved by the U.S. Senate ahead of the Sharm el-Sheikh COP27 Summit later this year.

The U.S. had indeed derailed the climate change response after the impulsive President Donald Trump had walked out of the Paris Accord.

The Indian Cabinet only last week gave its nod to commit to reduce the carbon emission from the 2005 level by 45 per cent, while also resolving to ensure that its installed capacity of the power generation will be 50 per cent sourced from the renewable sources of energy.

The climate change has been wreaking havoc in all parts of the world, with the heat wave and floods giving scary moments to the people in the U.S.

In the U.K. and other countries in the Europe, the people had their hearts in the mouth after they saw roads melting against unprecedented rise in temperature.

It’s also worthwhile to recall that Biden while addressing the Ministers of environments of several countries through video conference had vowed to work to replace the dependence of India and Europe for the Russian oil and gas with clean sources of energy.

The US senate approving the bill has led a global jubilation, as it marks the most developed country to finally make serious efforts to scale down the carbon emissions.

The development has also come in the wake of an unprecedented rise in the demands for fossil fuels across the world for coals, oil and gas in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“…53 years after an American president was made aware of global warming, the Senate has finally passed a law that will reduce USA’s emissions of greenhouse gases by 40 per cent by 2030 on 2005 levels. It is a small step for humanity but a gigantic step for America,” tweeted Jairam Ramesh, former Union Minister for Environment.