Through out his time in the white house, Donald Trump attacked climate change science foolishly mocked it by pointing out hot weather and generally undermined the long-term leading position that the American government has had in the climate change fight. It is of course true, that what ever words presidents have said about climate change, they have not invested enough in doing something about it. As such, despite having roughly 5% of the worlds population, the USA is the second biggest emitter, emitting roughly 15% of the world emissions each year.
However, it seems that the cost of not doing something about climate change is likely to cost far more. Last year there were 22 climate disasters in the USA which all combined cost $95 billion. It is thought that by 2050 the annual cost of climate change mitigation and fighting could hit $500 Billion. Given climate change cost almost 100 billion in 2020 and is likely to be 5 times bigger in 30 years, it seems reasonable to spend significant amounts now to forestall that future problem.
In 2018 it was estimated that climate change had cost the USA $350 billion over a decade.
It would seem therefore, that it is highly sensible to spend 40-50 billion a year making sure that this does not take place.
How could America do that? There are many things that they could do, both within their own borders including a large reforestation drive, and abroad that would make a huge difference. As I have written in the past, the exciting thing about many projects that can be undertaken to fight climate change, is that many of these have other positive outcomes, such as biodiversity retention, and alleviating poverty.
Joe Biden has taken many sensible acts such as re-joining the Paris climate accord, but now the work must truly start, and America must put its money where its mouth should be.