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Europeans express relief, hope for climate cooperation after Biden win

(Clean Energy Wire, 9 Nov 2020) European leaders, researchers and media commentators breathed a collective sigh of relief following Joe Biden's victory in the US presidential elections and expressed hope for a new partnership on combating climate change.

The news fuelled expectations that the new president will re-join the Paris Agreement and might even follow the EU and China in setting a goal for reaching climate or CO2 neutrality by the middle of the century. Key stumbling blocks between Germany and the United States, such as trade, energy supply, and foreign affairs, will remain, but hopes are growing that Biden will be keen to forge common solutions.

Europe and US stand side by side in fight against climate change - Chancellor Merkel

German chancellor Angela Merkel congratulated Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on their victory, saying she was looking forward to working with them. The European Union, Germany and the US would have to stand together to overcome the most important global challenges. “We stand side by side in the fight against global warming and its worldwide effects,” she said in a press statement on Monday morning.

Biden win could open possibility of transatlantic emissions trading system – finance minister Scholz

The United States is and remains Europe’s closest ally in the world, and combating climate change will be on top of the agenda to further deepen this relationship under next president Joe Biden, writes finance minister Olaf Scholz in an op-ed for Spiegel Online. “Not to cover up the obvious with diplomatic rhetoric: Like many of my counterparts across Europe, I am relieved.”

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Clean Energy Wire, 9 Nov 2020: Europeans express relief, hope for climate cooperation after Biden win