US emission reduction goal doubled by Biden

Washington, April 22: President Joe Biden on Thursday doubled US ambitions on slashing greenhouse gas emissions, leading Japan and Canada at a summit in making new commitments that bring the world closer to limiting the worst climate change. Putting the United States back at the forefront on climate, Biden told a virtual Earth Day summit that the world's largest economy will cut emissions blamed for climate change by 50 to 52 percent by 2030 compared with 2005 levels.

“The cost of inaction keeps mounting. The United States isn't waiting,” Biden told a two-day summit of 40 leaders, including the presidents of rivals China and Russia. “We have to step up,” Biden said. “We have to take action — all of us.”

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who discussed climate last week when he was Biden's first foreign guest, significantly raised the goals of the world's second largest developed economy to cutting emissions by 46 percent in 2030 compared with 2013.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, another early ally of Biden, boosted ambitions of his energy-exporting country to reductions of 40-45 percent below 2005 levels, compared with an earlier target of 30 percent.

German Chancellor

Angela Merkel said, “I'm delighted to see that the United States is back, is back to work together with us in climate politics, because there can be no doubt about the world needing your contribution if we really want to fulfill our ambitious goals.”

President Xi Jinping reiterated his pledge that China — by far the world's largest emitter —would reach carbon neutral by 2060.

“China has committed to move from carbon peak to carbon neutrality in a much shorter time span than what might take many developed countries, and that requires extraordinarily hard efforts from China,” Xi said. —