Obama stresses U.S. unity in climate change fight
GLASGOW, Scotland — Former President Barack Obama says he believes that President Biden’s climate package will be “historic” and he welcomed the efforts of all U.S. politicians — Democrats and Republicans — in working toward slowing down global warming.
Obama spoke Monday on the sidelines of the U.N. climate conference in Glasgow.
“I believe President Biden’s Build Back Better bill will be historic. But I know Joe Biden wanted to do even more,” Obama said. “Both of us have been constrained by the fact that one of our two major parties has decided to not only sit on the sidelines, but express hostility toward climate science and make climate change a partisan issue.”
“That’s got to stop. Saving the planet isn’t a partisan issue. I welcome any faction within the Republican Party that takes climate change seriously,” Obama added.
He said climate change will affect all Americans and everyone on the planet, no matter how they voted.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re a Republican or a Democrat if your Florida house is flooded, or your crops in the Dakotas are failing, or your
California house is burning. Nature, physics, climate science — they don’t care about party affiliation,” Obama said. “We need everybody — even if we disagree on other things. “
The European Union’s climate chief said Monday that the 26th Conference of the Parties, or COP26, as the conference is known, must focus on ensuring the headline goal of the Paris Agreement can be met.
Frans Timmermans, the European Commission’s vice president, said that “at the end of the COP, we need to be in a position to say we’re still on track to be well below 2 degrees (Celsius; 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit). We still have a shot at the 1.5 degrees (2.7 Fahrenheit goal).”