With the virtual climate summit, the US has returned to climate diplomacy – with a bang: President Joe Biden wants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the US by half.

Susan Götze, DER Spiegel:

“What Biden aimed for with his climate summit also achieved in the end: America is back. The USA is back in climate protection policy and after four years of Trump, four years of climate denial The latter and the United States have already completely said goodbye to climate protection, now a big comeback is coming. And that is, I would say, successful too. “

Joe Biden, US President:

“We know how relevant this is because scientists tell us that this is the critical decade. This is the decade in which we must make choices that can avoid the worst effects of the climate crisis. We need to keep the planet’s warming up to 1.5 degrees Celsius. You have to try to limit it. ”

Susan Götze, DER Spiegel:

»Of course it was also PR and of course the United States again wanted to articulate its claim to leadership. But it has to be said that they both actually managed to bring together the most important and large greenhouse gas emitters of this earth, to bring it to a table and also to take concessions from them. And this is quite an achievement. “

“And these are very important concessions on the way to the United Nations Climate Summit in Glasgow in late November. And by then we have many other summits: the G7 summit, the G20 summit and also the Petersburg Dialogue in Berlin. And we We will see that this positive movement within countries, that is, within countries and climate negotiations, is now solidified. And we will see if countries actually implement these climate goals, put them into laws and ordinances and make this change Take the money needed to make it. “