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| Thu, 22nd Apr 2021 15:11:00 |
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Biden vows to slash US emissions by half to meet ‘existential crisis of our time’ |
Joe Biden has called upon the world to confront the climate crisis and “overcome the existential crisis of our time”, as he unveiled an ambitious new pledge to slash US planet-heating emissions in half by the end of the decade.
Addressing a virtual gathering of more than 40 world leaders in an Earth Day climate summit on Thursday, Biden warned that “time is short” to address dangerous global heating and urged other countries to do more.
Shortly before the start of the summit, the White House said the US will aim to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by between 50% and 52% by 2030, based on 2005 levels. Biden said the new US goal will set it on the path to net zero emissions by 2050 and that other countries now needed to also raise their ambition.
“Particularly those of us that represent the world’s largest economies, we have to step up,” the US president said in a speech opening the gathering.
“Let’s run that race, win a more sustainable future than we have now, overcome the existential crisis of our time.”
Biden said a shift to clean energy will create “millions of good paying union jobs” and that countries that act on the climate crisis will “reap the economic benefits of the clean energy boom that’s coming”.
He said: “This is a moral imperative, an economic imperative, a moment of peril, but also a moment of extraordinary possibilities. Time is short but I believe we can do this and I believe we will do this.”
The Biden administration has also outlined a new plan to double the amount of funding the US gives to developing countries struggling to adapt to the ravages of drought, flooding and other climate impacts.
Other wealthy countries and the private sector should shift financing away from fossil fuels towards clean energy, Biden said. “This moment demands urgency – good ideas and good intentions aren’t good enough,” the president said. “We need to ensure the financing is there, public and private, to meet the moment on climate change and help us seize the opportunity for good jobs, strong economies and a more secure world.”
A procession of world leaders then followed Biden, with Xi Jinping, president of China, urging countries to be “committed to harmony between man and nature” and stating that China will peak its emissions more quickly than other major economies. Boris Johnson, the British prime minister, stressed the importance of financial aid for countries most vulnerable to the climate crisis and said that cutting emissions wasn’t just an “expensive politically correct green act of bunny hugging”.
Substantive new announcements came from Japan, with the prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, revealing it will slash emissions 46% by 2030, based on 2013 levels, an increase on its previous commitment. South Korea, meanwhile, committed to not financing any more overseas coal projects.
Canada also upped its goal, to a 40% to 45% reduction in emissions by 2030, based on 2005 levels.
The new US target, to be formally submitted to the UN, represents a stark break from the climate denialist presidency of Donald Trump and will “unmistakably communicate that the United States is back”, according to a White House official who was briefed on the emissions goal. “The US isn’t going to wait. The costs of delay are too great and our nation is resolved to act right now,” the administration official added.
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