Climate change: Trump breathing down his neck: Biden visits the Amazon region

Shortly before the change of power in Washington, outgoing US President Joe Biden is setting an example for the fight against the climate crisis by visiting the Brazilian Amazon. The stopover before the start of the summit of heads of state and government of leading economic powers (G20) in Rio de Janeiro is historic. Biden is the first sitting US president to visit Manaus, on the banks of the Rio Negro in northwestern Brazil. He flew over the area aboard a helicopter. The symbolic trip will be overshadowed by Donald Trump’s entry into the White House in January. The US President-elect wants to increase oil production and turned away from the Paris Climate Agreement in his first term in office.

“Some may try to deny or delay the clean energy revolution that is underway in America. But no one, no one can reverse it, no one,” Biden said in Manaus. He will leave his successor and his country a strong foundation to build on, said the Democrat. “The fight to protect our planet is literally a fight for humanity, for generations to come – perhaps the only existential threat that exists for all of our nations and all of humanity.”

Amazon is the “green lung” of the earth

The Amazon region is home to the largest tropical rainforest in the world. Large parts of the unique biosystem have already been destroyed by deforestation and slash-and-burn agriculture. Because the rainforest in the Amazon region can bind immense amounts of the greenhouse gas CO2, it is also of great importance for the global climate. But deforestation and other forest damage threaten the role that the Amazon rainforest plays as the earth’s “green lung” for the global climate.

According to the environmental protection organization WWF, around 20 percent of the original rainforest in Brazil has already been destroyed. According to the environmental protection organization, scientists expect that a tipping point will be reached when 25 percent of the forest area is destroyed. Large parts of the Amazon would then turn into a steppe. Recently, deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon region fell to its lowest level in nine years. When he took office at the beginning of 2023, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced that he wanted to strengthen environmental and climate protection.

Biden’s ambitious climate goals

After Lula’s return to power last year, the US government pledged financial support for a fund to protect the Amazon rainforest. As part of Biden’s visit to the Amazon, the US government announced an additional $50 million (around 47 million euros) for the Amazon Fund. This means that US support for the fund will reportedly increase to $100 million. Biden also wants to declare November 17th International Conservation Day. According to the White House, the United States has increased international climate finance to over $11 billion per year. This would make the USA the world’s largest bilateral donor in this area, it said.

Biden announced ambitious climate goals after taking office in 2021. The USA wants to generate electricity without CO2 emissions by 2035 and reduce its CO2 emissions to net zero by 2050 at the latest. In addition, emissions of climate-damaging greenhouse gases are to be halved by 2030 compared to 2005. Under Biden, the USA also rejoined the Paris climate protection agreement, which it had withdrawn from under Trump. Biden repeatedly calls the climate crisis an existential threat.

Trump is relying on completely different policies

With Biden leaving the White House, many of Biden’s achievements are likely to be wiped out. There are fears that the US could withdraw from the Paris Agreement again under Trump. “It was a rip-off of the United States, and I stopped it because I didn’t want to waste that money,” Trump said during the campaign. Trump has also already announced that he wants to make the head of the US oil service provider Liberty Energy, Chris Wright, his energy minister. Wright is in favor of promoting fossil fuels and has been critical of the global climate movement in the past.

Biden’s historic visit shortly before the end of his term in office is likely to be more of a symbolic nature in view of the upcoming change of power in Washington. The Democrat can no longer make far-reaching announcements and promises for the future. The next stop – the G20 summit in Rio – will probably be the last opportunity for the Democrat to meet several international partners – and thus work on his legacy.