World leaders to meet at global climate summit

WORLD leaders will take part in a virtual global summit on climate change this week as United States President Joe Biden leads a new push to cut emissions.

Mr Biden has invited 40 leaders to take part in the two-day summit starting on Earth Day, April 22, to galvanise efforts by major economies to combat climate change ahead of key UN talks hosted by the UK this year.

Ahead of the summit, the US and China announced in a joint statement issued by the US State Department that they had reached an agreement to cooperate with each other and with other countries to “tackle the climate crisis, which must be addressed with the seriousness and urgency that it demands”.

The US has been engaged in intense diplomatic efforts to encourage major polluters to bring forward more ambitious targets to cut the emissions which are pushing up global temperatures. Those efforts led to climate envoy and former secretary of state John Kerry striking the agreement with China, which has raised hopes that countries such as Japan and Canada will be announcing new moves to slash pollution.

Ultimately though, the world’s eyes will be firmly on the action the US itself can deliver, with expectations high on America’s plans for cutting emissions over the next decade. The Biden administration will be putting forward new plans as part of its recommitment to the Paris climate accord, the world’s first comprehensive climate treaty which Donald Trump quit when he was president.

Countries have been expected to come forward with more ambitious plans up to 2030, known as nationally determined contributions (NDC) in the Paris deal, ahead of the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow in November. That is because existing plans are not enough to meet countries’ commitments under the Paris deal to curb global temperature rises to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels and avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

The UK has put forward plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 68% on 1990 levels by the end of the decade. Ahead of the summit, environmental organisations, scientists and key figures in the climate movement have called for the US to cut its emissions by at least 50% on 2005 levels by 2030.

Jamal Srouji, associate at the USbased research organisation World Resources Institute, said a 50% cut would be achievable and ambitious. He added: “The expectations will be very high on the US as hosts of the summit, especially after four years of absence at the federal level, to demonstrate leadership through its ambitious NDC and to encourage others to come forward with also ambitious targets.”

Amber Rudd, former UK energy and climate change secretary who led the UK delegation at the talks in Paris in 2015 which secured the global treaty, said that international action to climate change was strong and growing. “But it is critical now that we press on urgently,” she added.