Joe Biden Promises U.N Climate Summit: I Will ‘Remake’ American Economy to Lead World to ‘Net-Zero’

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - NOVEMBER 01: U.S. President Joe Biden uses a tissue as he speaks durin
Yves Herman - WPA Pool/Getty Images

President Joe Biden promised the United Nations COPS26 Climate Summit on Monday he would remake the American economy, abandoning carbon based fossil fuels and focusing on renewable energy.

The president spoke to the summit after struggling to stay awake for the opening remarks from world leaders about the importance of addressing the issue of global warming.

Biden said he was planing “a marathon” for the United States economy that would “transform the largest economy in the world into a thriving, innovative, equitable, and just clean energy engine of net zero for a net-zero world.”

The president previously expressed his disappointment that the leaders of Russia and China did not attend the summit to join the world in reducing carbon emissions in their economies.

But during his speech, Biden outlined his goal to make the United States into a “net-zero emissions economy” by 2050, promising “bold action” to lead the world on climate change:

That’s why today I’m releasing the US long-term strategy, which presents a vision of achieving the United States goal of net-zero emissions economy-wide by no later than 2050 and reinforces an absolutely critical nature of taking bold action with — in the decisive decade.

Biden alluded to former President Donald Trump walking away from climate commitments in the past and said his administration was “working overtime” to demonstrate action on the climate crisis.

Biden used his speech to outline his “Build Back Better” agenda as evidence he was serious about climate change, even though it remains stalled in Congress. He argued his proposals would help the climate by offering more taxpayer subsides for electric vehicles and by electrifying school buses. He also promoted the idea of building more electric charging stations, windmills, and solar powered infrastructure that would improve the production and use of green energy.

He said his agenda would help Americans to save energy by installing solar panels on their homes and making their homes more energy efficient.

Biden stressed the importance of the moment, calling for all nations to join the United States in transforming their economies away from fossil fuels.

“This is the challenge of our collective lifetimes, the existential threat, threat to human existence as we know it and every day we delay, the cost of inaction increases,” he warned.

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