Biden appeals to world leaders to stay in the climate fight as Trump casts shadow

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — President Joe Biden made an urgent appeal to fellow world leaders Tuesday to surge money to developing nations to curb climate change as he wrapped up his final appearance at a major international summit.

Biden used the closing day's events at the Group of 20 gathering to announce hundreds of millions of dollars in new climate and development pledges and underscore his commitment to stemming the impact of climate-damaging fossil fuels on the planet.

But Biden’s end-of-presidency call to leaders of the world's major economies was shadowed by the reality that many of his latest proposals were likely to be blocked — and past climate initiatives rolled back — under President-elect Donald Trump.

Nonetheless, Biden insisted it was up to the leaders in the room to take on the existential crisis.

It's critical that developing countries have “enough firepower and access to capital” to combat climate change and protect themselves from its effects, Biden told heads of government at a working session.

“We need to continue to give breathing space to countries that are weighed down by debt,” Biden said, adding, “We as leaders need to find ways to flow money into their economies.″

His administration used an event at the summit hosted by Britain and Brazil to roll out a new U.S. $325 million contribution to the World Bank to help developing countries move away from climate-damaging fossil fuels.

It was one of a series of U.S. climate and development initiatives Biden announced at the G20.

However, many will require buy-in from Trump, who has shown an aversion to such projects. The president-elect has called the climate crisis a “hoax” and signaled plans to pull out of the Paris climate accord — as he did in his first term before Biden rejoined.

Trump has treated Democratic efforts on climate with contempt and skepticism. After rolling back environmental efforts and participation in global climate efforts in his first term, Trump campaigned for president with a slogan of “drill, baby, drill." He's vowed to further unleash U.S. oil and gas production, already at record highs.

While debate over U.S. support for Israel in its wars in Gaza and Lebanon has overshadowed much of Biden's foreign policy agenda, he has pointed to efforts against climate change and global poverty as legacies of his presidency.

Biden’s administration early on achieved the most comprehensive climate legislation in U.S. history, the Inflation Reduction Act, which pumped hundreds of billions of dollars into clean energy, electric vehicles and other projects.

Trump has pledged to shut down further funding under Biden’s climate act, calling it “the Green New Scam.”

Touring Brazil's Amazon rainforest Sunday in the first such visit by a sitting U.S. president, Biden vowed that the fight to move the world to cleaner, climate-friendly energy would continue no matter what.

“It’s true, some may seek to deny or delay the clean energy revolution that’s underway in America,” Biden said over the weekend from a podium set up on a sandy forest bed. “But nobody, nobody can reverse it, nobody — not when so many people, regardless of party or politics, are enjoying its benefits.”

On Tuesday, Biden called the world’s forests "some of the most powerful and valuable tools in the fight against climate change. Once they’re gone, it’s hard to get them back.”

Among the pledges and new programming announced by the White House are a three-year, $4 billion pledge to the International Development Association, the arm of the World Bank that supports the poorest and most vulnerable countries, and a new Brazil-U.S. partnership aimed at improving coordination on clean energy production and supply chain development.

Biden also called on G20 members to commit $2 billion to replenish a pandemic fund that the group established in 2022. Biden made a U.S. pledge of up to $667 million by 2026, but it would require approval by Congress. Republicans will control both the House and Senate in the next administration.

On Tuesday, Biden also posed with other world leaders in a traditional group photo. He appeared near Chinese President Xi Jinping in the front row after causing a small stir when he and at least two other Western leaders missed a similar group photo Monday in what a U.S. official called a timing mishap.

Asked why other heads of government didn't wait for Biden and the others, Brazil Communications Minister Paulo Pimenta said his country places a premium on punctuality.

“Brazil is like this. When it’s time, it’s time,” Pimenta said.

AP reporter Ellen Knickmeyer contributed from Washington.

U.S. President Joe Biden attends the G20 Summit leaders meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

President Joe Biden speaks during the second day of the G20 Summit at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (Saul Loeb/via AP, Pool)

President Joe Biden speaks during the second day of the G20 Summit at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (Saul Loeb/via AP, Pool)

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, from left, U.S. President Joe Biden and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi gather for a G20 Summit world leaders' group photo, in Rio de Janeiro, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

U.S. President Joe Biden, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi react, as world leaders gather for a group photo during the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (Leah Millis via AP, Pool)

NEW YORK (AP) — Nvidia and other tech companies are pulling U.S. stock indexes higher on Tuesday after they stumbled in the morning on worries about escalations in the Russia-Ukraine war.

The S&P 500 was 0.2% higher, as of 2:45 p.m. Eastern time, after erasing an early drop of 0.7%. The Nasdaq composite also shook off an early loss to turn 0.8% higher, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 154 points, or 0.4%.

Nvidia’s 4.4% climb was the strongest force pushing the S&P 500 upward, and without it, the index would have been down. The chip company’s stock is rallying ahead of its profit report for the latest quarter, which is coming on Wednesday, and vaulting its gain for the year so far above 195% thanks to the craze around artificial-intelligence technology.

Activity in the options market suggests Nvidia’s profit report may be the most anticipated event on Wall Street for the rest of the year, beating out the upcoming jobs report and even the next meeting of the Federal Reserve on interest rates, according to strategists at Barclays Capital.

It’s “a testament to the outsized impact of AI, and the apparent resurgence of upside chasing by” smaller-pocketed, everyday investors known as “retail traders,” according to Barclays’ Stefano Pascale and Anshul Gupta.

Nvidia’s rise helped calm the stock market, even as indexes sank across Europe after Russia said Ukraine fired six U.S.-made ATACMS missiles at it. Earlier in the day, Russian President Vladimir Putin formally lowered the threshold for Russia’s use of its nuclear weapons. Both France’s CAC 40 and Germany’s DAX fell 0.7%.

The worries also sent investors into U.S. Treasury bonds, which are seen as some of the world’s safest investments. The rise in their prices in turn lowered their yields, and the 10-year Treasury yield fell to 4.37% from 4.41% late Monday.

Gold also rose 0.6% and recovered some of the losses it sustained following Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential election, as investors herded into places traditionally considered safer during times of trouble.

Early in the day, such cautiousness overshadowed optimism coming from reports by big U.S. retailers showing fatter profits for the summer than analysts expected.

Walmart climbed 3.7% after topping forecasts for both profit and revenue. The nation’s biggest retailer said it saw broad-based strength across its categories, including sales made both online and in stores. It also said it served more upper-income households, while raising its forecasts for sales and profit for the full year.

Lowe’s likewise delivered bigger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected, but its stock nevertheless dropped 4.2%. A report in the morning said construction crews broke ground on fewer new homes last month than economists expected, and rival Home Depot slipped 0.8%.

Other big companies set to report their latest quarterly results this week include Target on Wednesday and Deere on Thursday.

Elsewhere on Wall Street, Super Micro Computer jumped 31.9% after it filed a plan to keep its stock listed on Nasdaq’s exchange. It hired an independent auditor, BDO USA, which can help it file financial statements needed in order to comply with Nasdaq’s listing requirements.

The company’s stock has been on a wild ride. It more than quadrupled in the first two and a half months of this year because the company makes servers used in AI. But it gave up all that and more, with losses accelerating after Ernst & Young resigned as its public accounting firm. A special committee of the company’s board later said that a three-month investigation found “no evidence of fraud or misconduct on the part of management or the Board of Directors.”

Berry Global Group rose 0.7% after Amcor said it would buy the maker of prescription vials, bags and other products in an all-stock deal. Amcor fell 2.6%.

Incyte dropped 8.6% after the biopharmaceutical company said it’s pausing enrollment in its ongoing study of a potential treatment for hives in chronic spontaneous urticaria. It also said data from another study evaluating a potential treatment for cholestatic pruritus does not support further development.

In stock markets abroad, indexes in Asia were more stable than in Europe. They rose 0.7% in Shanghai and 0.4% in Hong Kong, rebounding from early losses.

AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

FILE - The morning sun shines on Wall Street in New York's Financial District on Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

FILE - People pass the New York Stock Exchange on Nov. 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)

Currency traders pass by a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency trader reacts near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)