MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Al Gore says Washington has “schizophrenic” approach to climate change

It's crazy to allow polluters to write the rules,” Gore argued

During his recent trip to Brazil, former US Vice President Al Gore said that his country's stance on the climate crisis was “schizophrenic,” changing from one view to another, depending on who ruled. In his first term in office, between 2017 and 2021, Donald Trump withdrew the US from the Paris Agreement, whose main objective is to limit global warming to 1.5°C. But then came Joseph Biden, and the country returned to the agreement, only to pull out yet again with Trump's second term.

“It is unfortunate that the United States has had a schizophrenic approach to the climate crisis, alternating between Democratic and Republican presidents. This is far from ideal,” said Gore.

“In the post-World War II era, the role that the US has played in trying to be a responsible leader for the world community makes this even more unfortunate. We have seen the European Union grow in its leadership potential. But it would be much better if the US restored its commitment to human values and remained on the right path,” he said.

Gore spoke to reporters at the end of a day of activities at The Climate Reality Project, an event focused on political mobilization for climate action, which ran in Rio de Janeiro until Sunday.

In a new criticism of the current US administration, the Democrat said he did not believe that Trump's trade and political offensive against Brazil would hinder the participation of subnational, state, and municipal governments in the United States at the 30th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (COP30) in November in Belém.

“I find it deeply offensive to many American citizens that he [Trump] has blatantly lied by saying that the US has a large trade deficit with Brazil, when in fact we have a large trade surplus with Brazil. He says that Ukraine started the war with Russia, and we know that the opposite is true. He says that coal is clean. He says windmills cause cancer. He says he is an honest man. All of these things are lies,” Gore insisted.

During the event, a central part of the discussions on reducing greenhouse gas emissions involved how willing countries were to restructure economic models. Energy transition, replacement of fossil fuels, construction of sustainable development models, and climate finance were some of the topics.

Gore was asked if a real reduction in pollutants was possible without a structural transformation of production and consumption patterns. In other words, rethinking the capitalist system itself.

“I believe that capitalism can be part of the solution, rather than a central part of the problem. If you look at the optimistic news that 93% of all electricity generation last year was renewable and ask where the money for all this development came from, 85% came from private sources of capital,” he said.

“I believe it is inevitable that we will make this broader energy transition, that it will be sustainable. But the serious question that remains is whether we will do it in time. The president of my country is trying to slow down this transition. Fossil fuel polluters are doing everything they can to block any action that contributes to this transition. But I believe there is a growing demand among people in all countries to make this transition. Certainly, this is the case in Brazil,” he added.

The meeting of 185 countries in Geneva to negotiate a treaty on combating plastic pollution ended on Friday (15) without a consensus. With COP30 just a few months away, could this be a sign of the difficulties the climate conference will face?

“I think it demonstrates the extent to which the fossil fuel industry has become a global hegemony, with the political power to dictate what the world is allowed to do and what it is not allowed to do. The use of economic power networks to distort political decisions is a real challenge for global governance today,” said Gore.

“And that's why I devote so much of my time and effort to building popular movements to reaffirm humanity's ability to regain control of our destiny. It's crazy to allow polluters to write the rules and laws and dictate what we are allowed to do and what they don't allow us to do,” he concluded. (Source: Agencia Brasil)