Washington, DC
Reuters
The United States and other countries hiked their targets for slashing greenhouse gas emissions at a global climate summit hosted by President Joe Biden, an event meant to resurrect US leadership in the fight against global warming.
Biden unveiled the goal to cut emissions by 50 to 52 per cent from 2005 levels at the start of a two-day climate summit kicked off on Earth Day and attended virtually by leaders of 40 countries including big emitters China, India and Russia.
Chemical plants and refineries near the Houston Ship Channel are seen next to the Manchester neighbourhood in the industrial east end of Houston, Texas, US, on 9th August, 2018. PICTURE: Reuters/Loren Elliott/File photo.
The United States, the world’s second-leading emitter after China, seeks to reclaim global leadership in the fight against global warming after former President Donald Trump withdrew the country from international efforts to cut emissions.
“This is the decade we must make decisions that will avoid the worst consequences of the climate crisis,” Biden, a Democrat, said at the White House.
Pope Francis delivers a video message on the occasion of Earth Day, at the Vatican, on 22nd April. PICTURE: Vatican Media/Handout via Reuters.
IN HIS EARTH DAY MESSAGE, POPE WARNS THAT PLANET IS “AT THE BRINK”
Pope Francis said in his Earth Day message on Thursday that the planet was “at the brink” and humanity had to avoid “the path of self destruction.”
The Pope, who has issued many appeals for environmental protection since his election in 2013, spoke in two video messages, one for the Earth Day Live internet event and another for a global climate summit hosted by US President Joe Biden.
“Now is the time to act. We are at the brink,” Francis, who has backed the scientific consensus that global warming is partly man-made, said in the Earth Day message.
He cited the COVID-19 pandemic coupled with the effects of climate change and said nature could not continue to be disrespected, because it would “no longer forgive”.
“When the destruction of nature is sparked, it is difficult to stop. But we are still in time and we will be more resilient if we work together instead of alone,” he said.
“You do not exit from the crisis the same, we will either exit better or worse. That is the challenge, and if we don’t exit better, we will take the path of self-destruction.”
He said now was the time for innovation and invention and urged political leaders to act with courage and justice.
In the message to the event hosted by Biden, at which the United States and other countries hiked their targets for slashing greenhouse gas emissions, Francis said people had “to care for nature so that it cares for us”.
The event hosted by Biden, which Francis called a “wonderful” initiative, was meant to resurrect US leadership in the fight against global warming.
The Pope criticised former US President Donald Trump when he withdrew the United States from the 2015 Paris accord to limit global warming. The Vatican has welcomed Washington’s return to the accord.
– PHILIP PUELLELLA, Reuters
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the new US goal “game changing” as two other countries made new pledges.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who visited Biden at the White House this month, raised Japan’s target for cutting emissions to 46 per cent by 2030, up from 26 per cent. Environmentalists wanted a pledge of at least 50 per cent while Japan’s powerful business lobby has pushed for national policies that favour coal.
Canada’s Prime Minster Justin Trudeau, meanwhile, raised his country’s goal to a cut of 40 to 45 per cent by 2030 below 2005 levels, up from 30 per cent.
Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro announced his most ambitious environmental goal yet, saying the country would reach emissions neutrality by 2050, 10 years earlier than the previous goal.
Greenpeace UK’s head of climate, Kate Blagojevic, said the summit had more targets than an archery competition.
“Targets, on their own, won’t lead to emissions cuts,” she said. “That takes real policy and money. And that’s where the whole world is still way off course.”
Putin says problems go way back
Most of the countries did not offer new emissions goals. Chinese President Xi Jinping said China expects its carbon emissions to peak before 2030 and the country will achieve net zero emissions by 2060.
Xi said China will gradually reduce its coal use from 2025 to 2030. China, a leader in producing technology for renewable energy like solar panels, burns large amounts of coal for electricity generation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed giving preferential treatment for foreign investment in clean energy projects, but also made an apparent reference to the United States being historically the world’s top greenhouse gas polluter. “It is no secret that the conditions that facilitated global warming and associated problems go way back,” Putin said.
The US climate goal marks a milestone in Biden’s broader plan to decarbonise the US economy entirely by 2050 – an agenda he says can create millions of good-paying jobs but which many Republicans say will damage the economy.
The US emissions cuts are expected to come from power plants, automobiles, and other sectors across the economy. Sector-specific goals will be laid out later this year.
The new US target nearly doubles former President Barack Obama’s pledge of an emissions cut of 26 to 28 per cent below 2005 levels by 2025.
Cementing credibility
How Washington intends to reach its climate goals will be crucial to cementing US credibility on global warming, amid international concerns that America’s commitment to a clean energy economy can shift drastically from one administration to the next.
Biden’s recently introduced $US2.3 trillion infrastructure plan contains numerous measures that could deliver some of the emissions cuts needed this decade, including a clean energy standard to achieve net zero emissions in the power sector by 2035 and moves to electrify the vehicle fleet.
But the measures need to be passed by Congress before becoming reality.
The American Petroleum Institute, the top US oil and gas lobbying group, cautiously welcomed Biden’s pledge but said it must come with policies including a price on carbon, which is a tough sell among some lawmakers.
“The US is back”
The summit is the first in a string of meetings of world leaders – including the G7 and G20 – ahead of annual UN climate talks in November in Scotland. That serves as the deadline for nearly 200 countries to update their climate pledges under the Paris agreement, an international accord set in 2015.
Leaders of small island nations vulnerable to rising seas, like Antigua and Barbuda and the Marshall Islands, also spoke at the summit.
World leaders aim to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, a threshold scientists say can prevent the worst impacts of climate change.
A Biden administration official said with the new US target, enhanced commitments from Japan and Canada, and prior targets from the European Union and Britain, countries accounting for more than half the world’s economy were now committed to reductions to achieve the 1.5 degrees Celsius goal.
European leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen expressed delight that the United States was back in the climate fight.
“The importance of this day in my judgment is the world came together,” Biden’s climate envoy John Kerry told reporters at the White House.
– Additional reporting by VLADIMIR SOLDATKIN in Moscow; ELAINE LIES and AARON SHELDRICK in Tokyo, DAVID LJUNGGREN in Ottawa; JAKE SPRING and LISANDRA PARAGUASSU in Brasilia, DAVID STANWAY in Shanghai.
