In a speech on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, President Joe Biden will provide a comprehensive update on the United States’ efforts to combat change, the White House said.


What You Need To Know

  • President Joe Biden will provide a comprehensive update on the United States’ efforts to combat change, the White House said

  • Biden will deliver the speech Tuesday at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum in New York

  • Biden will not dwell on the “doom and gloom” climate experts predict if climate change is not properly addressed, but rather on how the president has spun the threat into opportunities to build U.S. manufacturing and infrastructure, White House national climate adviser Ali Zaidi said

  • Biden administration officials warned that many congressional Republicans are climate change deniers and have vowed to reverse their efforts

Biden will deliver the speech at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum in New York.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has called the 2020s the “decisive decade for climate action.”

“President Biden will deliver the decisive decade halftime report, and what he will show is how the United States has changed the playbook fundamentally,” Ali Zaidi, White House national climate adviser, told reporters Monday.

Biden will not dwell on the “doom and gloom” climate experts predict if climate change is not properly addressed, but rather on how the president has spun the threat into opportunities to build U.S. manufacturing and infrastructure, Zaidi said.

“When he was running for office, the president often said, ‘When I see climate, I see jobs,’” Zaidi said. “Since the beginning of his administration, he's made that a focal point in climate. It’s what's helped us put all these points on the board.”

Biden signed the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which included hundreds of billions of dollars aimed at accelerating the transition to clean energy and electric vehicles. And the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that he signed into law included more than $50 billion for climate resilience and adaptation.

His speech “will showcase just how transformational this administration has been in helping to meet all of our climate conservation and clean energy goals, reducing emissions and moving, in the long term, to a net-zero [emissions] economy, mobilizing private sector investments in domestic manufacturing to protecting our lands and waters and so much more,” said White House Communications Director Ben LaBolt.

Biden administration officials touted that electric vehicles sales have increased exponentially, that charging stations are becoming more widely available and that EV batteries are being manufactured domestically under Biden. Meanwhile, tax credits are helping Americans pay for EVs as well as energy-efficient home appliances and home upgrades that lower utility bills, officials said. 

The U.S. also has reestablished itself as a global leader on climate action, said John Podesta, senior adviser to Biden on international climate policy.

Under Biden, the U.S. reentered the Paris Agreement — a pact among more than 190 countries made commitments aimed at mitigating the effects of climate change.  Former President Donald Trump had withdrawn the U.S. from the accord.

Podesta also pointed to the president leading three leader summits on climate change and securing pledges from other nations, including on reducing methane emissions and transitioning from fossil fuels.

“Over the past four years, this resurgence of U.S. leadership on global climate action yielded real results,” Podesta said.

LaBolt said the U.S. must “keep the pedal to the metal on our climate efforts. We cannot afford to delay or to go back.”

But Biden administration officials warned that many congressional Republicans are climate change deniers and have vowed to reverse their efforts, including by repealing tax credits and rebates, easing pollution standards and rolling back protections on federal lands and waters. 

Barred by federal law from making any statements that could be seen as campaigning, the officials only discussed Trump in response to a reporter’s question. Podesta said the previous administration’s climate record “is clearly of concern and interest to people around the world.”

Trump’s campaign website makes little mention of climate change. The former president has promised to ramp up domestic oil and natural gas production as well as to again withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement.

Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s opponent, says she plans to build on the Biden administration’s climate record by protecting public lands and public health, lowering household energy costs, creating jobs and holding polluters accountable.