Biden’s inauguration was good news for our world

Good morning. David Meyer here in Berlin, filling in for Alan.

I’m a South-African-British dual citizen living in Germany. So, while I’ve been saddened by the rancor that’s infected American politics over recent years, and while I naturally have personal opinions on the issues that divide the country, I’m not an American voter, and my family and I have no direct stake in the choices that American voters make.

Except when it comes to one particular issue: the climate emergency.

The world is heating up due to human actions, and there is strong scientific consensus that this will have terrible outcomes if not mitigated. We’re seeing them already, in the U.S., in Germany, in the U.K., in South Africa—everywhere. We all share this world, we are all suffering from its degradation, and we must all act to save it.

That responsibility lies with every country, but there’s no getting around the fact that the greatest onus to cut carbon emissions rests on the biggest emitters, namely China, the U.S., the EU, India and Russia. The fifth entry on that list is dragging its heels—and shame on the Putin regime for that. But China, the EU and India are all taking this challenge seriously, and it is of the utmost importance that the U.S., the second-biggest emitter, does the same.

Based on this, I can only applaud yesterday’s inauguration of President Joe Biden. I’d do the same for a Republican president who took the climate emergency seriously—on this side of the pond, it’s much less of a partisan issue, and I hope that will soon become true in the U.S. as well.

As soon as he took office, Biden was a whirlwind of climate-defending activity. Most importantly, he recommitted the U.S. to the Paris Agreement, which aims to keep global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius. The significance of this is enormous.

Before yesterday, countries producing half of all global carbon emissions had committed to carbon neutrality or net-zero emissions. “Today’s commitment by President Biden brings that figure to two-thirds,” said United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres as he welcomed the move.

But, Guterres warned, “there is a very long way to go. The climate crisis continues to worsen, and time is running out to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius and build more climate-resilient societies that help to protect the most vulnerable.”

I have no doubt that the U.S. will be rewarded for bringing its considerable heft to this fight, not only in terms of national security—climate change is a far more fundamental threat than terrorism—but also when it comes to international standing. The country will find it easier to achieve its foreign-policy aims when others see it as a partner rather than a holdout.

It should also go without saying that clean-energy investors will find the new administration’s policies rewarding. Solar stocks are on a tear, thanks to the prospect of more stimulus and subsidies, and the likely continuation of low interest rates that aid financing for new projects. Unsurprisingly, with a green-hued infrastructural push on the way, a BofA note this morning points out that fund managers are throwing money into energy and materials.

All in all, yesterday’s transition provides grounds for climate optimism around the world. But now there’s work to do. More news below.

David Meyer
@superglaze
david.meyer@fortune.com

TOP NEWS

Chinese sanctions

China responded to Biden's inauguration by immediately slapping sanctions on former Trump-administration officials, including Mike Pompeo, Peter Navarro and John Bolton. If this was an attempt to capitalize on the lack of love between the fresh and expired U.S. administrations, it doesn't seem to have worked: Biden National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne said the move was "unproductive and cynical" and "President Biden looks forward to working with leaders in both parties to position America to out-compete China." Fortune

COVID action

The Business Roundtable was quick to praise President Biden for his urgent action on combating the COVID-19 pandemic. Amazon and Starbucks have both offered to lend their resources to aiding the vaccination push. Fortune

Unilever suppliers

The Anglo-Dutch consumer-goods giant Unilever has pledged to stop doing business with suppliers that don't pay their workers a living wage, by the end of the decade. "Our ambition is to improve living standards for low-paid workers worldwide," said the company, which has over 60,000 direct suppliers around the world, employing millions of people. BBC

Delisting furore

China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom—the country's biggest carriers—have all separately asked the New York Stock Exchange to rethink their planned delisting. On the basis of an executive order by former President Trump, the NYSE said it would delist the three, then it changed its mind, then it changed its mind again. Will there now be a third reversal? Wall Street Journal

AROUND THE WATER COOLER

Google in France

Google has signed a framework agreement with a group of French news publishers that will see it pay them for putting snippets of their text online. It already had a couple of bilateral deals with specific publishers, but this agreement is with the Alliance de la presse d’information générale (APIG) group, which includes a range of national and local publishers. Financial terms have not been disclosed yet. Reuters

Bitcoin slump

Bitcoin's down 10%. This may just be gravity taking hold after a record-breaking rise, or it may have something to do with Biden Treasury pick Janet Yellen being very cool on the cryptocurrency. Fortune

Alibaba crackdown

Founder Jack Ma may have reappeared after a mysterious two-month absence, but Alibaba (in which Ma no longer has any formal role) is still subject to an intensifying crackdown by Chinese authorities. Alibaba's shares fell 3% today after the People's Bank of China proposed new anti-monopoly rules that would probably target Alibaba payments affiliate Ant Group. Financial Times

D.C. statehood

What would statehood mean for Washington, D.C.? Apart from voting rights for its representatives in Congress, it would have huge financial implications. As Paul Strauss, one of D.C.'s two non-voting senators, told Fortune's Aric Jenkins: "It will allow us to invest our resources where we see fit. For too long, members of Congress have used their ability to control budget to our detriment." But disagreement continues over whether the benefits would outweigh the costs. Fortune

This edition of CEO Daily was edited by David Meyer.