At a virtual climate summit on Thursday, President Joe Biden vowed to slash U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030, laying out an ambitious goal that would necessitate significant improvements to the country's electricity and transportation industries.
The White House also announced that by 2024, it would have doubled its climate-related funding for low-income countries and would encourage the private sector to finance sustainable infrastructure, mitigation projects, and other investments.
President Biden And Vice President Harris Participate In Virtual Leaders Summit On Climate WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 22: U.S. President Joe Biden listens during a virtual Leaders Summit on Climate with 40 world leaders in the East Room of the White House April 22, 2021 in Washington, DC. President Biden pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions by half by 2030.
Biden vows 50% decrease in U.S. emissions by 2030
"These moves will put America on a path to become a net-zero emissions economy by no later than 2050," Biden said at the start of the two-day summit, which 40 world leaders attended.
"Scientists warn us that this is the crucial decade. This is the decade in which we must make choices that will prevent the worst effects of a climate crisis," he added.
The White House's goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent to 52 percent from 2005 levels is almost twice the Obama administration's goal set in 2015. Under the basis of anonymity, an administration official briefed reporters on how the White House wants to accomplish the 50 percent cut in emissions, USA Today reported.
After four years of the Trump administration's efforts to unravel US environmental promises, the virtual climate summit aims to renew America's leadership on climate change and mobilize other world leaders to set their goals. Only a few world leaders outlined measures to resolve the situation, among other world leaders giving equally grim evaluations of the danger faced by climate change.
Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that his country would cut carbon emissions by 40 to 45 percent by 2030, up from the previous goal of 30 percent. Yoshihide Suga, Japan's prime minister, has pledged to cut emissions by 46 percent below 2013 levels.
China and India, two of the world's largest emitters, did not propose any new goals. President Xi Jinping of China and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India reaffirmed their previous commitments. They stated that they face more significant challenges than the U.S. and other Western countries.
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Australia PM Scott Morrison resists pressure
However, Australia Prime Minister Scott Morrison has defied U.S. pressure to use a global climate summit hosted by President Joe Biden to announce a higher greenhouse gas emission reduction goal. "We are well on our way to meeting our Paris commitments," Morrison said at the summit, revealing the rift between Australia and many of its other partners over how to address the climate crisis better.
"For Glasgow, we'll update our long-term carbon reduction policy," he added, referring to the COP26 climate change summit, which will be held in Scotland in November. As a result, Australia is looking for a cut in greenhouse gas emissions of 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2030, about half the size of the updated U.S. target.
Biden said that the United States would aim to raise its Paris target to decrease emissions of 50 to 52 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. He addressed the 40 countries invited to the virtual meeting that taking steps was a "moral imperative," as per ABC News.
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In a live-streamed summit highlighting America's return to the battle against global warming, the leaders of Russia and China set aside their harshly-worded disagreements with U.S. President Joe Biden to pledge international coordination on reducing climate-wrecking coal and petroleum emissions.
Neither Vladimir Putin nor Xi Jinping joined the United States and some of its established allies in making concrete new commitments to curb harmful fossil fuel emissions on the first day of the two-day summit organized by the United States. However, climate activists hoped that the high-profile but glitch-plagued simulated summit would spur fresh action from big polluters, clearing the way for a crucial United Nations conference in Glasgow in November.
Biden spoke from a TV-style chrome-blue set for the virtual summit of 40 world leaders, declaring that the whole world is facing a time of peril but also a moment of opportunity. Onscreen, participants emerged one by one for what appeared to be a combination of live and recorded speeches, AP News reported.
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