BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 19. The US has invested billions of dollars to improve climate resilience, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality Brenda Mallory said at a press conference within COP29 today, Trend reports.
"In the early days of his presidency, President Biden set a goal to conserve at least 30 percent of land and water resources by 2030. I'm proud to say that, to date, more than 45 million acres have been conserved, including some of the country's most treasured places, such as the border waters of Minnesota, Bristol Bay in Alaska, and the Everglades in Florida," she explained.
"As part of the 'Investing in America' initiative, we have also invested tens of billions of dollars to make our communities more resilient to droughts, floods, and other climate impacts, including through nature-based solutions," the official mentioned.
Mallory reminded that at last year's COP conference in Dubai, the US joined a global freshwater program, collaborating with 45 countries and the European Union to protect and restore rivers and wetlands around the world.
Since then, the US has set a national goal to protect, restore, and connect 8 million acres of wetlands and 100,000 miles of rivers and streams by 2030, she added.
To note, the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29), which will run until November 22, opened at the Baku Olympic Stadium on November 11. It is the largest event organized by Azerbaijan to date, and the first time in the region that it is being held in Azerbaijan.
Within COP29, the highest level event - the summit of world leaders on climate action - was held on November 12–13.
The main expectation from COP29 is to agree on a fair and ambitious New Collective Quantitative Goal (NCQG) on climate finance. The COP29 chairmanship has launched 14 initiatives that include linkages between climate action and the Sustainable Development Goals, including green energy corridors, green energy storage, harmony for climate resilience, clean hydrogen, methane reduction in organic waste, action on green digital technologies, and other topics.
In addition to being a top priority that creates the conditions for action, creating climate finance will also help fulfill the 1.5°C pledge by bringing everyone together.
The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is an agreement signed at the Rio Earth Summit in June 1992 to prevent dangerous human interference in the climate system. The acronym COP (Conference of Parties) stands for “Conference of Parties” and is the highest legislative body overseeing the implementation of the Framework Convention on Climate Change.
A total of 198 countries are parties to the Convention. Unless otherwise decided by the parties, COP is held annually. The first COP event was held in March 1995 in Berlin, and its secretariat is located in Bonn.
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