Presidency

H. E. Joseph N. Boakai, Sr.

President of Liberia

H. E. Zegben J. K. Koung

Vice President of Liberia

EPA Lauds US President Biden’s Commitment to Climate Change Fight

Prof. Wilson K. Tarpeh, EPA Executive Director and CEO

 

The Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Environmental Protection Agency of Liberia (EPA), Prof. Wilson K. Tarpeh has lauded US President, Joe Biden for recommitting the US Government to the Paris Climate Change Agreement.

United States former President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the landmark global agreement meant to curb emission that cause climate change amid glaring realities of the impacts of climate change globally.

But, in his first hours in office, US new President Biden signed executive orders aimed at tackling the climate crisis and rolling back former President Trump-era policies, some of which denied the science of human-caused climate change.

Executive Director, Tarpeh said President Biden’s decision to returned America to the Paris Climate Accord is a significant boost in the fight against climate change.

Speaking on Thursday, January 21, 2021 at the start of a two-day training to enhance the capacity of inter-ministerial working group on climate change at the Ministerial Complex in Congo Town, Prof. Tarpeh said “climate change is an important situation that got a significant boost this morning with the United States returning to the Paris Climate Change Agreement.”  

Prof. Tarpeh didn’t only praise President Biden for taking a decision to return America to the Paris Accord, but he is elated that former Secretary of State, John Kerry was appointed as US ambassador on Climate Change.

Kerry was the one who signed the Paris Climate Agreement on behalf of the US in 2016.

As secretary of state during president Barack Obama’s second term, Kerry played a key role in securing the Paris deal.

He worked with his Chinese counterpart to agree on a carbon-cutting deals between the two nations in 2014 that underpinned the signing of the accord a year later.

The Paris Agreement seeks to prevent increases in global temperatures by gradually reducing man-made emissions that science has shown causes rising temperatures.

The accord sets as a specific goal keeping the Earth from warming by more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit — or 2 degrees Celsius.

Former US President Obama pledged a lowering of American emissions by 26 to 28 percent by 2025, as well as $3 billion to the United Nations Green Climate Fund, but Congress' most recent spending deal leaves out those funding dollars.

Trump successfully campaigned to stop funding to the United Nations Green Climate Fund, but the latest decision suggests the availability of funding.

Prof. Tarpeh acknowledges that lot of the world will be looking up to the funding for economic development and reiterated the need for Liberia to focus on initiating climate sensitive projects.