On Thursday, Biden pledged to increase U.S. funding to help developing countries fight climate change and curb deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest during a meeting with leaders from the world’s largest economies.
U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres told countries attending Biden’s Major Economies Forum that “a quantum leap in climate action” was required to limit temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius. He warned in a recorded Earth Day message that “we seem hellbent on destruction”. Earth Day this year follows weeks of extreme weather with temperatures hitting a record 45.4 degrees Celsius in Thailand and another punishing heatwave in India, whereScientists warned this week that killer heatwaves were putting “unprecedented burdens” on India’s agriculture, economy and public health, and undermining the country’s long-term efforts to reduce poverty, inequality and illness.
Average global temperatures could hit record highs this year or in 2024, driven by climate change and the anticipated return of the “El Niño” weather phenomenon, climate scientists said on Thursday.