At the United Nations Climate Conference, or COP27 for short, this November, the United States (USA) promised to strengthen its efforts in slowing down climate change. 

Midway through the conference, President Joe Biden apologized for the USA leaving the Paris Agreement in 2017 and promised to do more in the next decade.

COP27 this year focused on the idea of paying back “loss and damage,” or the damage disproportionately inflicted on poorer countries by the environment. During the conference, Biden acknowledged that as a developed country, the USA should do more.

At COP27, Biden said, “Climate crisis is hitting hardest in those countries and communities that have the fewest resources to respond and to recover.”

The idea behind richer countries paying for the “loss and damage” caused by climate change is not only are poorer countries disproportionately affected by climate change, they also contributed the least fossil fuels, according to The New York Times. The richer countries, such as the USA, United Kingdom, and Germany, should be helping the countries affected because they are the highest contributors as well. 

Accordingly, Biden aims to take action aligning with his words. “I committed to work with our Congress to quadruple US support to climate finance and provide $11 billion annually by 2024,” Biden said The money will be split up to work towards the many goals set at COP27, including but not limited to supporting islands, shifting the economy away from oil and gas, bettering food security, and improving weather alert systems for poorer nations- as stated by the White House.