“Climate change is literally an existential threat to our nation and to the world,”, and “The health of our citizens and our communities is… at stake. So we have to act.”- the US president spoke in Massachusetts as a heatwave brings extreme weather to Europe and North America.
US president Joe Biden said in Wednesday’s speech, which was delivered outside a former coal-fired power plant in the town of Somerset that the funding would go to extending flood control, shoring up utilities, retrofitting buildings, and helping families pay for heating and cooling costs.
He also said that he will treat and act taking these extreme climate and weather conditions ‘as an emergency’, but eventually stopped short of formally declaring a federal emergency.
The administration also plans to provide additional support for offshore wind and energy development in the Gulf of Mexico. Also plans to execute new workplace standards to help protect workers from extreme weather and heatwave.
Adding to the speech, President Biden said that since Congress “is not acting as it should”, he plans to publicise additional executive actions in the coming weeks.
“Our children and grandchildren are counting on us,” he said. “If we don’t keep below 1.5C, we lose it all. We don’t get to turn it around.”–US President Joe Biden was quoted saying in the speech on Wednesday.
