AFP - Agence France Presse
From the Amazon rainforest, Biden declares that no one can reverse US progress in clean energy.
AAMER MADHANI, GABRIELA SÁ PESSOA and COLLEEN LONG
Manaus, Brazil, November 17, 2024 (AFP) - US President Joe Biden on Sunday highlighted his administration's “clean energy revolution” during a visit to the Amazon in Brazil, adding of President-elect Donald Trump that “no one can reverse it.”
“It's true - some may try to deny or delay the clean energy revolution that is underway in the United States. But no one - no one - can reverse it,” Biden declared in the city of Manaus.
Biden, on a farewell tour of South America before handing over power to Trump in January, is the first sitting US president to visit the Amazon.
Biden, 81, flew over the rainforest in a helicopter, visited a museum at the gateway to the Amazon, and met with indigenous leaders.
He used the occasion to promote his record of fighting climate change in the face of climate skeptic Trump's promise to “drill, baby, drill” fossil fuels on his return to power.
“Guys, we don't have to choose between the environment and the economy. We can do both. We've proven that in our country,” said Biden.
“I will leave my successor and my country a solid foundation on which to build if they so choose.”
Trump takes over from Biden as US president at an inauguration ceremony on January 20. inauguration ceremony.
CB/rmb/bjt
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