Biden faces international climate-aid challenge in fiscal 2024 – By Benjamin J. Hulac (Roll Call) / Dec 28, 2022
President pledged $11.4 billion a year to help poor nations, but Republicans have opposed most climate change-related spending
Even with Democrats narrowly controlling both houses of Congress, President Joe Biden was unable to convince lawmakers to fully fund his requests for contributions in fiscal 2022 or 2023 to international funds that help poor nations address climate change.
Biden pledged to the United Nations in 2021 that the U.S. would give $11.4 billion annually to such funds starting in fiscal 2024. Republicans, who have opposed most climate change-related spending, will have a majority in the House next year, so Biden will face a tough fight to meet that pledge.
Biden on Dec. 23 signed the fiscal 2023 omnibus spending legislation, which included $1.06 billion for climate finance programs, a far cry from the $5.3 billion the administration wanted.
“Looking at the numbers, it very much looks like a repeat of last year,” Joe Thwaites, who tracks international climate finance at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said by phone. “It just conforms to a pattern of the U.S. making commitments on climate finance and failing to deliver.”
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