“We are going to combat climate change in a way that we have not done before,” said Joe Biden.
Washington:
US President Joe Biden signed a series of executive orders to launch his administration on Wednesday, including a decision to join the Paris climate accord and a masking mandate for all federal buildings.
The orders included keeping the United States in the World Health Organization, ending a Muslim-majority country entry ban, tightening environmental protections and strengthening the fight against Covid-19.
Also among the directives was a halt to construction of the wall on the US-Mexico border and efforts to expand diversity and equality for minority groups in the federal government.
The orders were aimed at reversing the decisions of his predecessor, Donald Trump, and setting a clear political course for the new Biden administration, just hours after he assumed the presidency.
“Some of the things that we are going to do are going to be bold,” he said in the Oval Office.
“We are going to fight climate change in a way that we have not done before,” Biden said of the return to the Paris agreement, a treaty signed by most nations in 2016 to limit global warming.
He said his actions on the Covid-19 pandemic, which has claimed 400,000 American lives, would help turn the tide of the crisis.
His return to the Paris Agreement, of which the United States joined Barack Obama as president and vice president of Biden, was praised by other leaders.
“Welcome back,” French President Emmanuel Macron said.
“We are together. We will be stronger to meet the challenges of our time. Stronger to build our future. Stronger to protect our planet.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also welcomed the move, saying it was a big step for the major producers of global carbon pollution.
“But there is a long way to go,” he said in a statement.
“We look forward to US leadership in accelerating global efforts toward net zero emissions,” he said, calling for new “ambitious” targets for 2030 and expanded climate finance.
Biden’s climate czar John Kerry hailed the move as a boon to “America’s credibility and commitment: to establish a floor, not a ceiling, for our climate leadership.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
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