(Bloomberg) -- U.S. President Joe Biden is winning praise from environmental groups for his plan to significantly boost the nation’s financial commitment for fighting climate change. 

Biden said in April that the U.S. would double its spending to $5.7 billion and speaking at his first speech as president to the United Nations on Tuesday, he said he would “double that number again.” 

The move, which will face significant obstacles in a closely divided Congress, would take the U.S. commitment to about $11.4 billion a year by 2024. It’s a big step toward meeting a global goal for wealthy nations to provide a total of $100 billion annually for less developed countries to help fight climate change. Environmental groups had said that the world’s biggest economy should contribute more than the $5.7 billion Biden pledged in April.

“This is more in line with what the U.S. needs to do,” Jake Schmidt, senior director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s international climate program, said on Tuesday.

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