President Biden and Britain’s King Charles III urged private companies to do more to address climate change in developing nations during their first meeting Monday at Windsor Castle in England.
John Kerry, the president’s special envoy for climate, said during the discussion on global warming that the high-level meeting included “philanthropists and investors” who are seeking ways to speed up action against climate change.
“The people here … represent literally trillions of dollars … and they are making decisions every single day about how to accelerate this [green energy] transition,” Mr. Kerry told the president and the king at the start of a climate-focused roundtable.
“There’s a full understanding here, particularly with the evidence of the last few weeks piling on, that when scientists are telling us that they are terrified by what they’re seeing, and when we hear those same scientists telling us that we are in uncharted territory, this group has come together to try to figure out, ’OK, how do we deploy the funds necessary to invest, to create the new clean energy economy?’” Mr. Kerry said.
Among those in attendance were the United Arab Emirates’ Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, president-designate of the U.N. global climate summit set for December, and the heads of Bank of America, Prudential plc, BlackRock, Allianz, Lloyds of London, NatWest Group and the United Bank of Africa.
The king, who was crowned in May, is making the environment a significant part of his policy legacy and has long fought to protect wildlife and battle climate change. Mr. Biden signed a sweeping legislative package last year that includes nearly $375 billion in climate-related incentives.
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the president has “huge respect” for the king’s commitment to the climate issue in particular. He said Charles has been a “clarion voice” on climate and “someone who’s mobilized action and effort.”
“So the president comes at this with enormous goodwill,” Mr. Sullivan told reporters Sunday as the president flew to London on his way to a NATO summit in Lithuania later this week.
Mr. Biden’s visit included a meeting with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. The White House said they “reaffirmed their steadfast support for Ukraine in the face of Russia’s ongoing aggression.”
The president decided last week to provide Ukraine with cluster munitions, which are banned by the U.K. and 122 other signatories to a convention that forbids the weapons. Mr. Sunak has made clear his disapproval of the decision and said Britain will not follow Washington’s lead on the controversial weapons.
Still, the two men said the transatlantic “special relationship” remained strong despite some policy differences.
“We’re moving along in a way that’s positive. But our relationship is rock solid,” Mr. Biden said of their meeting.
The British government said the two nations have started work on an agreement securing British access to critical minerals from the U.S. needed in car manufacture and high-tech applications even though the U.K. does not have a free-trade agreement in place. Access was put into question after Mr. Biden pushed through his Inflation Reduction Act last year aimed at reducing the reliance of American electric vehicle supply chains on China.
Following his meeting with the king and the prime minister, Mr. Biden left London late on Monday for Vilnius, Lithuania, where a two-day summit of NATO leaders begins Tuesday.
• This story is based in part on wire service reports.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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