What to expect from the Biden government for the Global Climate Governance? A common question, although full of answers and analyses, was the starting point for a webinar organized by the Socioenvironmental Platform together with the BRICS Policy Center, in partnership with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation – Brazil, the NGO FASE and iCS, on March 18. There is no doubt that the election of Joseph Biden and the reintegration of the United States into the Paris Agreement has brought new elements and horizons to the multilateral climate debate, with an initial focus also designed to strengthen the global climate governance, impacted by the economic crisis, by the Trump government and, of course, by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ana Toni, executive director of iCS, Steve Suppan, from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, and Luis Manuel Fernandes, from IRI, PUC-Rio, discussed the significance of the environmental and financial agenda presented by Biden for the first 100 days of his government and also the role of the United States in the global geopolitics. For Ana Toni, the return of the United States to the Paris Agreement cannot only be a welcome return, but will also have charges from other signatory countries, because the Agreement is a commitment between countries, and not between governments.
“At the same time, the USA returns with a much larger understanding of the dimension of the climate than before, bringing the country to the center of the international geopolitical debate and the center of the internal economic and social discussion. It will be interesting to see how this centrality of the subject will influence the Agreement and the regime as a whole,” said Ana Toni.
Watch the webinar, with mediation by Maureen Santos, from FASE/Socioenvironmental Platform: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iu0l_DdKxSA
The subject was also the focus of the seventh episode of a Meio Descomplicado podcast, by the Socioenvironmental Platform. You can listen to the podcast here:
