Biden declares during Amazon visit that his climate legacy will survive Trump’s return to power

Joe Biden, the first sitting US President to visit the Brazilian rainforest, insists his record on fighting climate change will survive Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

US President Joe Biden signs a proclamation designating November 17 as International Conservation Day as he visits the Amazon rainforest in Manaus, Brazil, before heading to Rio de Janeiro for the G20 Summit. Picture: AFP.

US President Joe Biden paid a historic trip to the Amazon rainforest overnight on Sunday to promote his record on fighting climate change, insisting it would survive Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

Mr Biden flew over the jungle by helicopter and met Indigenous leaders in the Brazilian city of Manaus on the penultimate leg of a valedictory South American tour. The 81-year-old Democrat is the first sitting US president to visit the Amazon.

“Folks, we don’t have to choose between an environment and the economy. We can do both. We’ve proven it back home,” Mr Biden said in a nature reserve, framed by vivid green forest cover.

Without referring to Mr Trump by name, he said he would leave his Republican successor and his country “a strong foundation to build on, if they choose to do so”.

“It’s true – some may seek to deny or delay the clean energy revolution that’s under way in America but nobody – nobody – can reverse it,” he said.

On Sunday, the White House announced that the US had hit its target of increasing bilateral climate financing to $US11bn a year.

It said the figure reached this year was six times what the US was providing when Mr Biden took over from Mr Trump in 2021.

The money, which helps developing countries adapt to climate change, has made “the US the largest bilateral provider of climate fin­ance in the world”, the White House said.

The EU, however, remains the biggest global contributor to ­climate financing.

Mr Biden’s last major foreign tour as President, which began with a gathering of APEC partners in Lima, Peru, ends with a G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro this week.

Climate financing for developing nations is one of the topics on the G20 table, with calls for the world’s richest countries to rescue stalled UN climate talks taking place at the same time in Azerbaijan.

While striking a defiant note about Mr Trump, Mr Biden has cut an at-times forlorn figure on his farewell tour.

All eyes in Lima were on Chinese President Xi Jinping, who was received with greater fanfare than the lame-duck US leader.

At a meeting with Mr Biden, the Chinese leader was already looking to the new Trump era, saying he was ready to work with the “America First” leader and hoped for a “smooth transition” in relations.

America’s allies fear Mr Trump could again pull the US, the world’s second-biggest polluter, out of the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement on combating carbon emissions, as he did during his first term.

On Saturday, he nominated fracking magnate and noted ­climate change sceptic Chris Wright as his energy secretary.

AFP