Newsman: President Biden today kicked off a virtual climate summit attended by 40 other world leaders by announcing an ambitious cut in greenhouse gas emissions as he looks to put the US back at the center of the global effort to address the climate crisis and curb carbon emissions.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping are two notable leaders who are attending President Biden’s two-day summit, underscoring the wide range of leaders attending. Many allies of the US are also in attendance, including French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
The US is just one of the major polluters announcing new, more ambitious climate targets this week. A number of countries, including the United Kingdom and Japan, have also upped their goals.
President Biden announced an ambitious goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 50% from 2005 levels by 2030.
“By maintaining those investments and putting these people to work, the United States sets out on the road to cut greenhouse gases in half — in half — by the end of this decade. That’s where we’re headed as a nation,” he said.
Biden went on to call on world leaders to join him, setting up a key test of his administration’s ability to galvanize support on this issue.
“No nation can solve this crisis on our own, as I know you all fully understand. All of us, all of us and particularly those of us who represent the world’s largest economies, we have to step up. You know those that do take action and make bold investments of their people in clean energy future, will win the good jobs, tomorrow, and make their economies more resilient and more competitive,” he said.
He set the forthcoming Glasgow UN climate conference on Nov. 1 as a key target for other countries to join him in laying out goals.
Steps between now and the Glasgow conference, he said, “will set the world up for success.”
Biden called addressing climate change, which he described as “the existential threat of our time,” a moral and economic “imperative” and said this is “a moment of extraordinary possibilities.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged his country’s commitment to a “green development” at the global climate summit with US President Joe Biden and other world leaders. Xi reaffirmed China would achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, and to peak carbon emissions by 2030.
Xi also announced China’s plan to limit the increase in coal consumption: “We will strictly control coal fired power generation projects. We will strictly limit the increase in coal consumption over the 14th 5-year-plan period, and phase it down in the 15th 5-year-plan period.” China will also promote joint efforts for green Belt and Road projects, Xi said.
“Green mountains are gold mountains. To protect the environment is to protect productivity, and to improve the environment is to improve productivity,” he said.
Speaking about the need for global cooperation on climate, Xi said, “Not long ago the Chinese and US sides released a joint statement addressing the climate crisis. China looks forward to working with the international community including the US to jointly advance global environmental governance.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Tuesday it is aiming to slash the country’s emissions by 78% by 2035 UK compared to 1990 levels. The government has previously made a commitment to reduce emissions in 2030 by at least 68% compared
Japan followed the UK and said it would aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 46% in 2030 from its 2013 levels. Previously, it was targeting a 26% cut.
The European Union has reached an agreement on a new climate law on Wednesday, following marathon talks that lasted 14 hours. Under the law, the EU pledged to cut emissions by 55% below 1990 levels by 2030.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed President Biden’s commitment to cut his country’s greenhouse gases by as much as 52% by 2030.
Merkel welcomed the fact that the US is back to being a global partner in tackling climate change.
”I am delighted to see that the United States is back — is back to work together with us in climate politics because there can be in no doubt about the world needing your contribution if we really want to fulfill our ambitious goals,” the German leader said.
Merkel said that the world’s commitment in tackling the climate crisis is ”a herculean task because this is nothing short of a complete transformation — a complete change of the way we do business, the way we work.”
”The national contribution of the United States for 2030 is a clear illustration of US ambitions and is a very clear and important message to the international community,” Merkel said . She reiterated that Germany has already reduced its emissions by 40% — compared to 2019 — and said that the EU will be climate neutral by 2050.
‘We want to have at least 55% less emissions by 2030 compared to 1990,” Merkel said.
Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador will propose a new migration agreement between the countries of North and Central America this week, he announced on Sunday.
His proposal would ask Central American migrants as well as Mexicans considering emigration to work across Mexico planting trees and crops for three years in return for an eventual six-month US work visa, López Obrador said in a video posted to his YouTube channel. Eventually, participants in the program should be able to apply for US citizenship, he said.
The Mexican President plans to present the plan during Thursday’s virtual Climate Summit, convened by President Biden.
“We could make an agreement and say: ‘Let’s see, we support you to plant your land. If you are going to plant coffee, if you are going to plant cocoa for three years, we support you for three years and even more, but after those three years, once you have your harvest, you already have the automatic right to a six-month work visa for the United States,” López Obrador said from Palenque, in Chiapas.
“You’ll go six months (to the US) and then you will return to your town. And then, three years after having your work visa, with good behavior, you already have the right to apply for your US citizenship,” he added.
Thousands of Central Americans have been driven northward by the economic pain of the pandemic and two devastating Category 4 hurricanes last year. The recent influx of migrants, especially unaccompanied minors, at the US southern border has overwhelmed the American government’s resources in the last month.
Biden’s administration has asked Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala to tighten their borders and stem the flow of migrants, and has also placed around 28,000 radio ads in Latin America to discourage people from making the trip.
While the goals are a part of the Paris climate agreement that Biden rejoined upon taking office, they are non-binding and the administration has not rolled out a plan on how the US will meet them.
The US invited these World leaders to the summit:
Prime Minister Gaston Browne, Antigua and Barbuda,
President Alberto Fernandez, Argentina,
Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Australia
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh
Prime Minister Lotay Tshering, Bhutan
President Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Canada
President Sebastián Piñera, Chile
President Xi Jinping, People’s Republic of China
President Iván Duque Márquez, Colombia
President Félix Tshisekedi, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Denmark
President Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission
President Charles Michel, European Council
President Emmanuel Macron, France
President Ali Bongo Ondimba, Gabon
Chancellor Angela Merkel, Germany
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India
President Joko Widodo, Indonesia
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel
Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Italy
Prime Minister Andrew Holness, Jamaica
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Japan
President Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya
President David Kabua, Republic of the Marshall Islands
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Mexico
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand
President Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria
Prime Minister Erna Solberg, Norway
President Andrzej Duda, Poland
President Moon Jae-in, Republic of Korea
President Vladimir Putin, The Russian Federation
King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Singapore
President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Spain
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey
President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, United Arab Emirates
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, United Kingdom
President Nguyễn Phú Trọng, Vietnam
