US president Joe Biden arrives in Europe ahead of climate summit

Rome: The US president Joe Biden has arrived in Europe ahead of next week's key UN climate summit, with his climate policy yet to pass through the US Congress.

The president's $1.75 trillion Build Back Better social welfare package includes more than $500bn of spending on green policies. Before leaving Washington, Mr Biden described the measures as historic.

It's a framework that will create millions of jobs, grow the economy, invest in our nation and our people, turn the climate crisis into an opportunity, Mr Biden said in a TV address from the White House.

The president heads for the



COP26 global climate summit in Scotland on Sunday, but his first stop was the Vatican where he has been meeting the Pope after arriving in the early hours of Friday. He will also attend the G20 summit of major economies in Rome.

His Build Back Better legislation covers a wide range of extra funding for health and child care, education and clean energy reforms.

The green spending would seek to dramatically slash US greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, provide new tax breaks for electric vehicles and roll out installation of solar panels on American homes.