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USAID, Blinken harp on reducing global emissions

By Ngozi Egenuka
12 April 2022   |   3:15 am
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has said that limiting global warming and avoiding the worst-case scenarios of the climate crisis remains possible if we rapidly reduce global emissions this decade.

(FILES) In this file photo taken on January 07, 2022 US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks in the briefing room of the State Department in Washington, DC. – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on January 9, 2022 said Russia had to choose between dialogue and confrontation, ahead of talks in Geneva on soaring tensions over Ukraine. (Photo by Andrew Harnik / POOL / AFP)

United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has said that limiting global warming and avoiding the worst-case scenarios of the climate crisis remains possible if we rapidly reduce global emissions this decade.

USAID pledged its support to its partners transition from fossil fuels to locally available, renewable energy. These efforts, according to statement, are essential for limiting global warming, building prosperity, resilience and strengthening our own national security and the security of our allies.

The statement read: “Supporting the renewable energy transition is just one piece of our broader efforts to tackle the climate crisis. Our Climate Strategy calls on all corners of USAID to play a part in our efforts to build low-to-no emission development pathways while making the most vulnerable and marginalized communities more resilient to climate impacts. This includes conserving tropical forests and other critical carbon stocks and sinks, making key systems like agriculture and transportation more sustainable and less emissions-intensive, and supporting communities to better adapt to the climate impacts already wreaking havoc across the globe.”

In another statement, United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, has stressed the need for full implementation of current national pledges to stop or slow planetary warming.

In a statement, he noted how the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on mitigation, reveals how current global efforts to mitigate the climate crisis fall far short of what is needed. 

Without full implementation of current national pledges and robust, aggressive, and ambitious further action we cannot keep the 1.5 degrees Celsius goal within reach.

That is why we have called this the decisive decade.  The IPCC found there are options available now, in all sectors, that can halve global emissions by 2030, from improving energy efficiency, to halting and reversing global deforestation, to deploying more sustainable transportation and clean energy. 

There are ways to improve our chances of success, including more effective decision-making across all levels of government, increased alignment of financial flows with climate outcomes and enhanced international cooperation.

According to him, The IPCC found progress towards the needed reductions in carbon emissions. With actions already taken and the pledges made under the Paris Agreement through COP26, we can get closer to limiting warming to 2 degrees Celsius, and with additional effort we can keep 1.5 degrees Celsius within reach.

That is why the administration has made tackling the climate crisis a central part of its agenda from day one.  The President’s FY 2023 budget request to Congress includes more than $11 billion in international climate finance to avert the worst impacts of climate change and to support developing countries in taking more ambitious climate action.

This report makes it clear; the tools to stave off the worst impacts of the climate crisis are firmly within our grasp. Nations of the world must be brave enough to use them.

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