AS the world is set to descend on Glasgow this November for the COP26 Climate Change Summit, US president Joe Biden's newly appointed climate envoy has signalled it will be a major point in the year ahead.
Former US secretary of state John Kerry has been made the special presidential envoy for climate by Biden and tweeted on Wednesday night: "Friends, today we get back to work. As I head back into government I’ll now be tweeting from @ClimateEnvoy. I hope you’ll follow me there and join me on the road to Glasgow!”
Friends, today we get back to work. As I head back into government I’ll now be tweeting from @ClimateEnvoy. I hope you’ll follow me there and join me on the road to Glasgow!
— John Kerry (@JohnKerry) January 20, 2021
On the @ClimateEnvoy Twitter account, Kerry highlighted Biden's quick action to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement, saying that it will restore US "credibility and commitment - setting a floor, not a ceiling, for our climate leadership".
He then added that "the road to Glasgow begins here".
Just hours after his inauguration on Wednesday, President Biden signed an executive order that will move to reinstate the US to the Paris climate agreement, which looks to curb the dangerous heating of the planet.
With the US re-joining the #ParisAgreement and #Biden committing to go further there’s now a real opportunity to deliver bold climate action when the world comes to Glasgow for #COP26 in November 🌍 https://t.co/Q9gtOzJVTB
— Scottish Greens (@scotgp) January 20, 2021
The US - the world's second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases - was taken out of the deal under Donald Trump's presidency.
The agreement commits its members to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5C above the pre-industrial era.
Biden now looks set to put the climate crisis as one of the major parts of his presidency as a list of priorities on the White House website puts it second only to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
It is currently understood that no firm plans have been put in place around which US officials will attend the United Nations climate change conference COP26, due to take place in Glasgow later this year.
Originally scheduled for November 2020, COP26 is due to run from Monday, November 1 until Friday, November 12 this year, after being postponed due to the impacts of Covid-19.
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