President Biden’s address to the United Nations General Assembly will focus on climate change, the coronavirus pandemic, and the need for international diplomacy, according to reports. The speech — coming days after Biden toured wildfire damage in California and Colorado and visited areas of the Gulf Coast hammered by Hurricane Ida, and on the heels of the announcement of a global pledge to cut methane pollution — is expected to be at least as strong on climate change as President Obama’s final speech to the UNGA in 2016. The speech also comes at a critical moment politically for Biden, as Democrats struggle to pass major investments to address the causes and impacts of climate change — actions that will be critical for establishing U.S. credibility at the COP26 climate summit in November. (E&E $, TIME, Reuters, Bloomberg $, The Hill; Climate Signals background: 2021 Western wildfire season, 2021 Atlantic hurricane season)
