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It wasn't a red carpet but it seemed. Impeccably dressed in a navy blue suit and tie, Harrison Ford walked this afternoon slowly and calmly across the corded corridor to reach the Action Hub glazed room at the Madrid Climate Summit.
Around him, several hundred people were waiting expectantly for the arrival of the Hollywood star, who has participated in an event with former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg in which they have faced common against Donald Trump, whom they have accused of " lack of courage "for having started the process to get the US out of the Paris Agreement.
"Who is coming"? Many attendees asked at the summit when they saw in Pavilion 4 as many people gathered as the one who has accompanied the young Swedish Greta Thunberg in each of her acts. For many, the presence of the protagonist of Indiana Jones or Star Wars has been a surprise, but not for the fans of the actor because Ford has long become a climate activist - he is ambassador, for example, of the Conservation International organization.
The American delegation has been today the protagonist of the day today, with the arrival in Madrid of John Kerry and former Vice President Al Gore, who met this afternoon with President Pedro Sánchez.
The politician and businessman Michael Bloomberg, who has accompanied Harrison Ford this afternoon, was also this morning at the Spain Pavilion of the Madrid Climate Summit, where he participated in an act on the need to mobilize private companies to finance the Transition to a green economy.
One of the first measures that the former mayor of New York will take if he wins the elections for the US presidency to be presented in 2020 is to put his country back into the Paris Agreement, thus reversing one of the most controversial decisions of Donald Trump, whom he has called denialist.
"Fighting climate change does not require a miracle but investment and common sense," said Bloomberg, considered the ninth richest person in the US according to Forbes.
Repeating the speech of Nancy Pelosi, who heads the US delegation at COP25, the billionaire has insisted that "the US is still inside" and involved in the fight against climate change despite the fact that the current government has begun the procedures to exit the Agreement from Paris (a process that will conclude in November 2020 if voters do not choose a new tenant for the White House). At 77, Bloomberg will try to reach the presidency of the United States and is currently a candidate for the primary elections of the Democratic Party.
"It's great to be in Madrid with the Americans who are engaged in the fight against climate change with their partners," Bloomberg said after greeting attendees in Spanish. "Unfortunately there is no White House representative and it is the third consecutive climate summit in which it occurs," he criticized Trump.
And that, as recalled by the mayor of New York between 2000 and 2013, "you just have to put the television" to check the ravages of climate change also in America: "Fires in California, rains in Texas, floods in areas that were previously dry, farmers see changes in their crops ... Things are changing and something needs to be done about it, "Bloomberg claimed.
"The White House is important, but sometimes not so much. We are not going to run away from our responsibilities as citizens of the world," Bloomberg said.
Americans against denialism
The Americans speak today at COP25 of an initiative called America's Pledge with which they intend to respond to the denial of the current US Administration and to mobilize all the cities, states, companies, institutions and universities that want to continue fulfilling the emission reduction commitments necessary to limit the rise in temperatures to 1.5 degrees. Michael Bloomberg and the Governor of California, Jerry Brown, launched this initiative in July 2017.
As Bloomberg has pointed out, we already know how to get energy with sun and wind or how to make cars that don't use gasoline. Things are being done but it is not enough: "The good news is that we can fix it if we admit that it is not enough and stop talking. The main lesson is that in many cases, the problem is not in science but in politics. No enough is being invested. "
"The world is moving in the right direction but we are late and we are far from achieving the 1.5 degree target," said Economy Minister Nadia Calviño, host of the event. After affirming that "there is no magic solution", he drew up a road map to achieve that economic transition that allows to fulfill the objectives set by the international community: to have public and private investment, an adequate framework, to act quickly and decide what green and what is not to avoid greenwashing and make sure that young people are heard.
USA CAN FULFILL THE OBJECTIVE OF 1.5 DEGREES
The arrival in Madrid of Michael Bloomberg, Al Gore and Harrison Ford to support Nancy Pelosi, president of the US House of Representatives and head of the US delegation at COP25 in Madrid, coincides with the publication of a scientific report that ensures that It is still possible for the US to play the necessary role to limit the temperature rise to 1.5 ° C compared to the beginning of the industrial era.
The report, made by researchers from the University of Maryland and the Rocky Mountain Institute, assesses the impact that non-federal entities in the United States have, that is, states, cities, businesses, as well as cultural or educational institutions. These currently represent 68% of the US Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 65% of the US population and are responsible for 51% of greenhouse gas emissions in that country.
According to this report, made public on Monday, with the measures undertaken by these non-federal actors in the US, two thirds of the objective of the Paris Agreement would be met by 2025 and greenhouse gases would be reduced by 25% by 2030 ( regarding the levels that were in 2005).
In addition, if ambition is increased, the work adds, emissions could be cut up to 37% by 2030. The report also argues that if after the 2020 elections the US Government again commits itself to the Paris commitments , emissions could be reduced by 49% by 2030, a percentage that is believed to limit heating to 1.5 degrees.
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