United States President Joe Biden has witnessed the devastation of drought up close as he became the first sitting US president to visit the Amazon rainforest, declaring that nobody can reverse “the clean energy revolution that’s under way in America”.His comments come even as the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump is poised to scale back efforts to combat climate change.
The huge Amazon region, which is about the size of Australia, stores massive amounts of the world’s carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas driving climate change. But development is rapidly depleting the world’s largest tropical rainforest, and rivers are drying up.
On Sunday, Biden said the fight against climate change has been a defining cause of his presidency. He has pushed for cleaner air, water and energy, including legislation that marked the most substantial federal investment in history to fight global warming.
But he is about to hand the nation over to Republican Trump, who is highly unlikely to prioritise the Amazon or anything related to climate change, which he has cast as a “hoax”.
Trump has pledged to again pull out of the Paris Agreement, a global pact forged to avert the threat of catastrophic climate change, and said he would rescind unspent funds in energy efficiency legislation.
“It’s true, some may seek to deny or delay the clean energy revolution that’s under way in America,” Biden said from a podium set up on a sandy forest bed, flanked by huge tropical ferns. “But nobody, nobody can reverse it, nobody – not when so many people, regardless of party or politics, are enjoying its benefits.”
The question now, he said, is, “Which government will …
