Virtual Summit Promise Race at the Biden Climate Summit
US Biden commits to reduce emissions by up to 52% by 2030
John Kerry travels the world as a special climate envoy, but inside the door it is actually three women who champion the unusual momentum of President Joe Biden that he has shown this week during the celebration of his virtual climate summit.
Gina McCarthy is the National Climate Advisor, based at Casa Banca;
Jennifer Granholm serves as Secretary of Energy, with her accumulated experience as Governor of Michigan;
and Deb Haaland has already made history as the first Native American woman in a cabinet, heading the Department of the Interior.
The "triumvirate" of women takes the lead in the zoom meetings of the Climate Change Strike Force, which periodically brings together more than twenty senior officials and experts from all departments to coordinate actions, aimed at a double goal:
decarbonize the energy sector by 2035 and reach the goal of "zero emissions" by 2050
.
"This is a much more integrated and sophisticated approach than the one that existed during the Obama Administration," acknowledges Gina McCarthy, former director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), elevated to the category of cultural icon by Rolling magazine. Stone.
"The challenge is not just solving a problem on a planetary scale," he warns.
"We are trying at the same time to rebuild the economy, create jobs
and put on the table the hitherto ignored issue of environmental justice: 40% of the investments and benefits of climate policies must go to the least favored communities."
"People need to live well"
, that has been the motto of Gina McCarthy (Boston, 1954) for decades, who was an activist against hazardous waste and in defense of air quality, before drawing the definitive link with the climate crisis : "I have never separated environmental issues and health and energy issues. For me they have always been linked because they constitute the meeting point of a sustainable world."
The 'Dra.
Fauci '
Over the past four years, Gina McCarthy admits she had to bite her nails as the Trump Administration reversed more than a hundred environmental regulations. Upon her return, she has earned the nickname of "Dr. Fauci", for her determination and firmness when it comes to promoting action against climate change (comparable to that of Dr. Anthony Fauci in his fight against Covid).
"I think there is beginning to be a general recognition that the transition is happening and is going to continue," McCarthy cautions. "In 2020 there was a huge increase in solar and wind energy in the United States, and much of it occurred in states with Republican governors ... It is time to 'capture' the future, and to create a country with clean energy It can compete with China and create the jobs that would otherwise go elsewhere. We cannot build the future with the technologies of the past. "
"All transitions are hard and there is no way to sweeten that fact," warns Jennifer Granholm (Vancouver, 1959), the Canadian / American who came to the Secretary of Energy with Biden thanks to her achievements as governor of Michigan between 2003 and 2011. The financial debacle struck at the end of his term, in which he had to grapple with the crisis in the automobile sector.
Jennifer Granholm, Secretary of State for Energy, during a press conference at the White House
Hence his fondness for the electric car, which he now intends to intensify on a national scale.
"Electrification is the key," he says, with General Motors setting the tone and announcing that it will stop making combustion cars before 2035. "Beyond costs, we have to make electric vehicles more accessible, with more chargers and fewer loading times ".
"The market is changing, and it is important for oil and gas companies to understand that they have to align themselves
or risk being left behind," Granholm stresses.
"It's good to hear those signals and accept that this is an opportunity to diversify investments in clean energy solutions."
Deb Haaland, Home Secretary
From the Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland has also proposed to give a steering wheel to the department that ensures the use of "federal lands", where oil and gas exploration using the controversial method of
fracking
has been banned from entering
.
Haaland, born in Arizona (Winslow, 1960), is actually linked to Laguna Pueblo of New Mexico, her soul state.
She was a candidate for governor for the Democratic Party, a congresswoman for Albuquerque and the right arm of Barack Obama's campaigns among indigenous communities.
His rise has been a ray of hope for the 574 federally recognized tribes and in constant lawsuits with the Government for the management of their "nations."
Also considered as "a firm ally" of the environmental cause, she stood out with this promise at the time of taking office: "I feel proud and honored to be able to dedicate the work of the Interior team to leave a more livable planet for the next generations ".
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