Biden hosts global climate change summit on Earth Day

President Biden joined dozens of world leaders today as part of a two-day virtual summit to address the global climate crisis. ?

Here were some of the notable developments from the summit:

Special presidential envoy for climate John?Kerry was complimentary of comments made by both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro at Thursday’s Climate Summit. However, he said the most important aspect is whether both countries follow through on their promises.

“Some of the comments that President Bolsonaro made today surprised me for they’re- that’s pretty good, that works, if you do those things. The question is will they do them? And the question is what’s the follow through and enforcement,” Kerry said.

On Putin, Kerry said he thought he was “pretty rational and put some decent visionary thoughts on things.”

Asked whether he plans to visit Russia or Brazil, Kerry said “at some point travel will be warranted” but said more negotiations on climate need to happen first.

Putin this morning said that Russia is “genuinely interested” in global cooperation.

“I think there’s room to hopefully have a discussion about this and we’ll see if we can find some common ground. I think that’s the most important summary of what I heard in terms of their comments today,” Kerry concluded.

Special presidential envoy for climate John Kerry?offered a rebuttal to countries who may be wary of the US seeking to reemerge as a global leader on climate.

The answer, Kerry said, is that “no politician could change what is now happening globally in the marketplace,” going on to cite financial commitments toward the administration’s goal.

Kerry recalled signing the Paris Climate Accords five years ago today and lamented actions from the Trump administration pulling out of the historic agreement.

“Regrettably, without any facts, without any science, without any rationale that would be considered reasonable, the former president decided to pull out. He was the only president in the entire world the only chief of state in the entire world who, without any scientific evidence, decided to pull out of the Paris Agreement,” Kerry said.

That presented a challenge as Biden took office, Kerry said.

“We had to restore America’s credibility, we had to prove we were serious, and I think that today does that in many ways, and not in a chauvinistic – in a way that is sort of inappropriate to our relationship with other countries, but in a way that reinforces the fact that … we need to bring all the countries in the world to the table, we all need to raise ambition,” he said.

Brazil’s environment minister, Ricardo Salles, said Thursday that for Brazil to enforce its plan to reduce deforestation and carbon emissions by 2030 it will need more funds for resources.

“The resources would go to the economic part and the command and control part of the plan in which will participate Ibama (environmental agency) and Federal Police, in addition to teams from the National Force and logistics with the support of the Armed Forces. It is also necessary to count on the state police,” he said.

Salles said the government budget for implementation of the plan will be presented next week and it will be higher than the current one.

“The president is going to double the resource, this is important because it gives support to the teams of the National Force, which can increase substantially,” he said.

Bolsonaro’s new environment plan, according to Salles, has five axes and includes land regularization, payment of environmental services, bioeconomics, ecological-economic zoning, and increased inspection through the National Force, a police force that is not structured to fight environmental illegalities.

The environment ministry reaffirmed what Bolsonaro said during his speech at the US Climate Summit, that Brazil will eliminate illegal deforestation by 2030 and neutralize greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

As US President Biden engages in a two-day virtual climate summit with world leaders, the fracking industry in Pennsylvania is reminding him of their importance to reach his climate goals.?

In a letter to the White House Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association, Pittsburgh Works, and the Marcellus Shale Coalition are calling on the administration to “promote policies reflecting the essential role American natural gas plays in this endeavor.”?

In his first days in office, Biden?ordered a moratorium?on new oil and gas leases on federal land and water areas.?However, the move was?a far cry from?the?ban on fracking President Trump claimed Biden would initiate. Fracking – or the drilling for natural gas — supports?an estimated?30,000 jobs in Pennsylvania, according to the?Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Natural gas, along with solar and wind energy, is needed?in?order to advance climate and economic goals, according to the letter.

“Domestically, a clean, reliable and resilient power grid based on natural gas and renewable energy sources working together is the only technologically feasible way of affordably meeting your climate goals for a carbon-free electrical grid by 2035 and net-zero emissions by 2050,” the letter states.

Today is Earth Day, and 40 world leaders are meeting virtually to discuss climate issues in a summit convened by US President Biden.?

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping are two notable leaders attending the 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 the world’s second-biggest polluter behind China, which has said it will continue to increase carbon emissions through at least the end of the decade.?

CNN correspondent Fred Pleitgen reports on the latest from Moscow and answers questions about the summit.

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CNN’s Kate Sullivan and Kevin Liptak contributed reporting to this post.

The virtual climate summit hosted by US President Biden cannot be “some expensive politically correct green act of ‘bunny hugging’” and must be about “growth and jobs,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday.

Praising the UK’s efforts on reducing carbon emissions, Johnson said, “We were the first country to pass legislation for net zero. We have the biggest offshore wind capacity of any country in the world, the Saudi Arabia of wind as I never tire of saying. We’re halfway to net zero.”

“We have carbon emissions lower than at any point since the 19th century, we’re ending support for fossil fuels overseas and doubling our international climate finance. We’re actually speeding up because we see the obligations for developed countries to do more, we’re legislating to deliver 78% of the reductions needed to reach that goal by 2035,” he added.

“As host of COP26, we want to see similar ambitions around the world and we’re working with everybody, from the smallest nations to the biggest emitters to secure commitments that will keep change to within 1.5 degrees. (…) It’s going to mean the richest nations coming together and exceeding the $100 billion commitment that they already made in 2009 and I stress how important that is,” Johnson also said.

The UK will host the 26th UN Climate Change Conference in November 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland.

Johnson also thanked Biden “for returning the United States to the front rank of the fight against climate change.”

Britain's President for COP26 Alok Sharma listens to a speech from the virtual US Leaders Summit on Climate in the Downing Street Briefing Room in London on April 22.

Alok Sharma, the president of the UN COP26 climate summit,?has urged nations to “come forward and explain” how they will achieve their targets on reducing net greenhouse gas emissions.??

“It’s important that countries set out their plans in detail and that’s of course what we also want to see,” he added.

He said he was “absolutely delighted” to have US President Biden “leading from the front” on climate, adding that “the nationally determined contributions set out by the [US] President is a big step up and I think it’s a benchmark, it’s for others as well the big emitters, to have a look at and see what more they can do.”

Sharma said the world was?“in a different place” to where it was about a year ago, adding, “The reality is that we’ve made progress in the last year. We now got 75% of the world economy covered by net-zero targets. But we need to do a lot more, in terms of near-term emission reduction targets and that’s what I’m looking for between now and COP26.”

The 26th UN Climate Change Conference will take place in November 2021, at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) in Glasgow, Scotland.

As 40 world leaders convene for US President Biden’s virtual climate summit, Pope Francis appealed for the world to “take care of the biodiversity, take care of nature” in a video message on Earth Day.

Speaking in Spanish, Francis spoke about the Covid-19 pandemic and the impact on nature and climate change it had when the world “stopped.”?

Both “global catastrophes” – climate change and Covid-19 — “demonstrate that we have no longer time to waste.”

“This shows us that the global nature needs our lives in the planet. It involved all of us, even if in many ways, different and unequivocal. And in this way, it teaches us even more on what we have to do to create a just planet, fair and safe from an environmental point of view. In brief, the Covid pandemic has taught us this interdependence, this sharing together the planet,” the Pope said.

The world “needs to reverse course” on climate as actions taken since the Paris agreement have “proven insufficient,” Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said on Thursday.

“Italy?is my own country, it is a beautiful but fragile country. The fight against climate change is a fight for our history and our landscapes,” he added.?

With?Italy?holding the current presidency of the G20, which accounts for 75% of global emissions, Draghi said the group has a “special responsibility”?to “deliver on the objectives of the Paris Agreement.”

“We want to act now, not to regret it later,” he said.

“The Italian presidency has proposed to hold a joint Climate and Energy Ministerial Meeting. A strong resolve by the G20 will also boost the chances for a successful COP26 Conference in Glasgow,” he added.?

The 26th UN Climate Change Conference is scheduled to take place in Nov. 2021, at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) in Glasgow, Scotland.?

Draghi also thanked President Biden for his “leadership” in hosting the summit.

“Now we are confident that together we will win this challenge,” he said.

US Treasury Secretary Janet?Yellen?built off President Biden’s remarks on finance as key to combating climate change as she addressed world leaders Thursday.

Yellen?cited “two questions that keep me up at night,” including how nations can reduce emissions by supporting economic development and responding to other challenges like Covid-19.

The second question, she said, is how should governments target public sector climate finance to mobilize private sector investments, noting that “past efforts to support private investment have not achieved anywhere near the scale needed to green the global economy.”

She vowed that her department “will focus the full range of our tools and expertise to work with you in producing concrete and innovative answers to these questions.”

She outlined key items in the President’s discretionary funding request to address this, including $1.2 billion request for the green climate fund, $485 million in funding to support multilateral climate initiatives, and increased support for multilateral development banks.

Yellen?said the US Treasury will work to facilitate investment in projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions via technical assistance to counterparts in other countries. The US is also working with the G20 on a sustainable finance working group to establish a sustainable finance roadmap for investors, she said.

She again called for a global partnership in meeting the moment.

“We will only achieve our goal of curtailing climate change through collective action. Today, we, as a global community, need to be ambitious, set goals, work together, and sprint toward a cleaner, safer, better future. We look forward to meeting this challenge together,” she concluded.

US President Biden’s summit today could be a game changer for climate change, according to the Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said, an influential international policy organization.

Speaking to CNN International’s Julia Chatterley on First Move, Angel Gurría stressed the need “to convince the leaders, convince ourselves, that this is the single most important priority that we have in the long term, but the long term starts today.”

He also addressed the Covid-19 crisis, saying the world is underfunding the fight against the virus. Angel Gurría said “it would be “a tragedy if we actually had the availability of the vaccines, and we did not have enough funding to be able to provide them to the least developed countries in the world.”

Europe wants to be “the first climate-neutral continent in the world,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said during Thursday’s climate summit.

“Yesterday, we agreed Europe’s first ever Climate Law with the European Parliament and our 27 governments. With this, we write into stone the goal set out by the European Green Deal – to make Europe climate-neutral by 2050,” von der Leyen said.

On Wednesday, the EU announced its target of reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels, as part of its Climate Law. Von der Leyen announced that the Commission would table proposals in June to make Europe “fit for 55.”

“We will make emission trading work – not only for energy generation and industry – but also for transport and for buildings. Carbon must have its price – because nature cannot pay the price any longer,” she said.

She also praised US President Biden for hosting the climate Summit.

Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry said the creation of a net-zero economy will require a strong public-private partnership, noting that “governments alone cannot possibly find all the necessary investment” to meet the task of a net-zero carbon future.?

“It will require mobilizing finance at an absolutely unprecedented level, and it will require governments to help facilitate the net-zero transition around the world, and to help … the vulnerable countries, the people who just don’t have the finance or the technology or the ability to do this,” he said.

“Given the magnitude of this challenge, however, governments alone cannot possibly find all the necessary investment,” Kerry added. “There’s no government in the world that has enough … in their budgets to be able to provide what we need to make this transition.”

“Ultimately, how governments, international financial institutions and private providers of capital work together is really going to determine the outcome of this challenge,” Kerry said.

In his second set of remarks at the climate summit, President Biden outlined the case for global cooperation in the fight against climate change through an economic lens.

Much like the first portion of the virtual summit, there were technical issues at the top, with Biden’s remarks echoing as he spoke for the first four minutes of a six-minute speech.?

Governments, he said, need to lead in “making sure that real material climate risks to financial systems are measured, disclosed and mitigated.” The response, he added, is “about international security, regional stability, food security, and gender and racial equality.”

Mobilizing against the threat of climate change, Biden told the world leaders, is “an investment that’s going to pay significant dividends.”

As part of the Biden administration’s commitment to have the US lead on this issue, he announced the US will double its annual public climate financing development to developing countries by 2024. The US also intends to triple public financing for climate application in developing countries by 2024.?

He noted the Development Finance Corporation is also committing to net zero emissions in its investment portfolio by 2040, and has increased climate focused investments to 33% of all new investments beginning in 2023, which, Biden said, is “the earliest of any country.”

Biden reiterated the “urgency” of the moment as he concluded.?

“Good ideas and good intentions aren’t good enough. We need to ensure that the financing will be there, both public and private, to meet the moment on climate change and to help us seize the opportunity for good jobs, strong economies, and a more secure world,” he said.

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro appeared to moderate his tone on environmental issues at Thursday’s virtual climate summit.

Bolsonaro reconfirmed his goal to eliminate illegal deforestation in the country by 2030, stating his government is strengthening environmental agencies, which goes in the opposite direction of the actions taken so far by his Environmental ministry.

Bolsonaro called on the international community to provide funding to help conserve the Amazon.?

“We coincide, Mr. President (Biden), with your call to establish ambitious commitments. In this sense, I have determined that our climate neutrality is to be achieved by 2050. Anticipating the previous goal in 10 years,” he said.

“Among the necessary measures for achieving this, I highlight here the commitment to eliminate illegal deforestation by 2030. With that, we will reduce our emissions (of greenhouse gas) by almost 50% until that date.”

Bolsonaro asked for international funding to help to conserve the Amazon.

Bolsonaro claimed the Amazon region needs to be developed economically. “The solution to this Amazonian paradox is an essential condition for the sustainable development of the region,” he said said, arguing that Brazil has little contribution to climate change.

“We cannot forget the main cause of the problem: the burning of fossil fuels over the past two centuries. Brazil participated with less than 1% of the historic emissions of greenhouse gases, even though it is one of the largest economies in the world,” he continued.

Some more background: Traditionally one of the first country’s to speak at world climate meetings, Brazil was one of the last to speak at this time. Bolsonaro’s words came in line with a letter sent to President Biden last week, in which he vowed to work towards a zero deforestation rate in 2030 in Brazil.

Despite Bolsonaro’s speech, deforestation in Brazil remains on the rise. The environmental agencies Ibama and ICMBio are facing a lack of resources and public servants, with military personnel in technical positions and with less authority to supervise.

?Read more about Bolsonaro’s past stances on climate here.

All nations need to “move more quickly” on their climate commitments and “2030 is the new 2050,” French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday.

Speaking at the US-hosted virtual climate summit, Macron said: “There is only one goal for the coming weeks and months: to move more quickly.”

“We need to move more quickly to implement commitments for 2030. A plan of action that is clear, measurable and verifiable. Basically, 2030 is the new 2050,” he added.?

He also said countries should move more quickly on climate justice and on protecting biodiversity.?

“Taking action for the climate means regulating, and regulating at international level. If we don’t set a price for carbon, there will be no transition,” he said.

President Macron also welcomed US?President Biden’s commitment to cut his country’s greenhouse gases by as much as 52% below its 2005 emissions levels by 2030, calling it a “historic decision on the road to Glasgow.”

The 26th UN Climate Change Conference will take place in November 2021 at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) in Glasgow, Scotland.

President Biden announced a new pledge this morning to slash the country’s carbon emissions by between 50% and 52% by the year 2030, compared to 2005 levels.

That’s a big jump from the 26% to 28% reduction by 2025 that then-President Barack Obama announced he was aiming for when he joined the Paris agreement in 2015.

How do these new targets compare to what other advanced economies are doing to curb global warming? When using 2005 emissions levels as a baseline, the US’ new target now puts it among the top-four most ambitious 2030 pledges globally,?according to a recent analysis by the Rhodium Group, a private data analytics firm.

The US pledge doesn’t quite match the UK’s 2030 goal to cut their emissions by 63%, but it is roughly on par with what other developed countries like the EU and Switzerland are aiming for, the analysis shows.

Since Rhodium’s analysis was published, the UK government?announced it is aiming to slash the country’s emissions by 78%?by 2035 compared to 1990 levels.

But more importantly, are the US’ targets in line with holding warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius, the threshold above which scientists have warned the world will face even more dangerous climate change impacts.

In its 2018 special report, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said that global greenhouse gas emissions?would need to fall by 45% from 2010 levels by 2030?for the world to have a shot at holding warming to less than 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The US’ new 50% target would translate into a 47% reduction by 2030 when compared to a 2010 emissions baseline, according to Rhodium’s analysis – in other words, right in line with what the IPCC says is necessary to avert disastrous levels of global warming.

During a virtual meeting held on the same day the US is hosting a climate summit, Vice President Harris spoke about her role in addressing the “acute and root causes of migration.”

She told?those convened that “most people don’t want to leave home” and said that the question needs to be “why they had to leave home.”

Harris pointed to issues in the region such storm damage, drought, food scarcity and a number of issues that relate to poverty, as factors that also need to be addressed as part of solving migration issues.?

Harris warned that the issue is complex, adding: “if it was easy it would have been solved a long time ago.”?

Speaking to the round table, Harris said the group was convened to figure out the best way to work together on the issues and a “comprehensive strategy” that includes civil society, the private sector, foundations and international help.?

“This initiative from my perspective must be relevant to the root issues of migration and the reasons people flee,” Harris concluded.

Cutting greenhouse gas emissions has already been a key topic during today’s US-hosted climate summit. President Biden committed the United States to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 50%-52% below its 2005 emissions levels by 2030.?

Reducing the amount of CO2 and other greenhouse gases that is released into the atmosphere is crucial for limiting future temperature increases.

That’s because these gases accumulate in the atmosphere and stay there for a long time. Like a blanket —or the roof of a greenhouse — they trap in heat that would otherwise escape into space.?

This causes temperatures on Earth to rise, which is linked to more extreme weather, ice melt and a rise in sea levels. The more greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere, the more the planet will warm.

Climate scientists have estimated the amount of greenhouse gases we can still add to the atmosphere without breaching the critical threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius.?

At the start of 2018, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimated we have around 420 gigatons (billion tons) of CO2 left in this so-called carbon budget. If humans can avoid burning through that budget, scientists say there is about a two-in-three chance of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

A more recent estimate published in the journal Nature earlier this year, puts the figure at a range from 230 gigatons for a two-in-three chance of meeting the target to 670 gigatons for a two-in-three chance of missing it.

The world produced roughly 34 gigatons of CO2 last year, which means the remaining carbon budget could last for just over six years, unless emissions start declining fast.

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.

Here’s a look at the world leaders the US invited to the summit:

German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed President Biden’s commitment to cut his country’s greenhouse gases by as much as 52% by 2030.??

”The national contribution of the United States for 2030 is a clear illustration of your ambitions and is a very clear and important message to the international community,” Merkel said on Thursday during a virtual climate summit of world leaders.?

Merkel also welcomed the fact?that?the US is back to being a global partner in tackling climate change.

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.”?

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 speaks at a press conference in Mexico City on April 9.

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.

“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.

Some background: 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.

Aiming to find in environmental reforestation a solution to the migration crisis, López Obrador’s proposal would extend the existing Mexican government welfare program Sembrando Vida, or Sowing Life.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during the virtual Leaders Summit on Climate on Thursday. The UK government announced on Tuesday it is aiming to slash the country's emissions by 78% by 2035 compared to 1990 levels.

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.

The UK government announced on Tuesday it is aiming to slash the country’s emissions by 78% by 2035 compared to 1990 levels. The government has previously made a commitment to reduce emissions in 2030 by at least 68% compared to 1990 levels.

On Thursday, 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.

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.

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.”

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President Biden announced an ambitious goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 50% from 2005 levels by 2030.

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.

Officials said Biden and his team arrived at the final number in a meeting at the White House on Wednesday morning.

The figures were struck after lengthy consultations with government agencies, scientists, industry representatives, governors, mayors and environmental researchers. The move underscores the President’s?commitment to addressing the climate crisis?and follows on his pledge to work with other countries to find joint solutions to global issues.

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.

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.”

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President Biden kicked off the Leaders Summit on Climate Thursday with welcoming remarks, calling on the world leaders to take action to combat climate change collectively as he announced an aggressive new goal for greenhouse gas emissions.

The first moments of Biden’s remarks, including the entirety of introductory remarks by Vice President Kamala Harris, were wracked with audio issues. The pool was unable to provide the summit live to television networks, a last-minute change, so reporters were reliant on a whitehouse.gov feed.

Biden pointed to actions the US would take, an?effort to reassert US leadership and put the US back to the center of the global effort to address the climate crisis after the Trump administration largely disengaged.

Biden focused on the job creation aspect of addressing the climate crisis in his remarks, suggesting he sees “an opportunity to create millions of good-paying middle class union jobs.”

“When I talk about climate, I think jobs. Within our climate response lies an extraordinary job creation and economic opportunity ready to be fired up,” Biden said, going on to urge investment in infrastructure.

“I want to build critical infrastructure to produce and deploy clean technology, both those we can harness today and those we will invent tomorrow,” he said.

Harris made brief introductory remarks ahead of Biden, outlining how the leaders present share the common concern of climate change.

“As a global community, it is imperative that we act quickly and together,” she said, calling for innovation and collaboration “around the world.”

As President Biden commited the United States to?reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told CNN it’s now a matter of policy and not individual choices to make these goals a reality.

Giving the example of electric vehicles, he said it won’t take any sacrifice for Americans but policy needs to ensure that “they’re affordable,?to make sure we have enough charging stations?around the country, to make sure?the electric vehicles of?tomorrow are made in America on?American soil by American?workers, preferably American?union workers.”

In the larger picture, Buttigieg pointed out that the US is responsible for about 15% of the world’s emissions.

“That’s why it was so disastrous?when the last administration?basically left the US seat at?the table empty.?That’s why it’s so important?today that we are convening,” he added, saying that it’s important that the country leads the way.

“We’re looking for other?countries to make big?commitments as well.?But we can’t do that with a?straight face if America isn’t?leading the way, if we’re not?walking the talk.?That’s what this big, bold but?achievable commitment from the?President today is going to help?us do —resume that position of US?Leadership and then challenge?the other nations of the world?to be part of the solution as?well.”

Watch:

Former Vice President Al Gore delivers a speech on renewable energy in Manhattan in 2019.

Former Vice President and Nobel Laureate Al Gore praised the Biden Administration’s pledge on cutting US carbon emissions on Thursday, calling it “a ground-breaking step” and saying, “we have no more time to waste.”

Gore noted that significant cuts are needed in this decade if we are to limit the global temperature rise and avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change.

In 2006, former VP Gore brought climate change to the forefront of global discussion with the Academy-Award winning film?An Inconvenient Truth.?Gore shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for their efforts to study and inform the global audience about the climate challenge.

More on Biden’s announcement: Biden committed the United States to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 50% to 52% below its 2005 emissions levels by 2030. 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.?

President Biden speaks during the virtual Leaders Summit on Climate from the East Room of the White House on Thursday.

President Biden just committed the United States to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 50%-52% below its 2005 emissions levels by 2030.

Officials said Biden and his team arrived at the final number in a meeting at the White House on Wednesday morning.

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.?

In an address opening the summit, Biden laid out his vision for a greener economy in which climate change is taken seriously across all sectors and results in more jobs for the blue-collar workers he has focused on throughout his career.

“These steps will set America’s economy to net-zero emissions by no later than 2050,” he added.

Biden also used his remarks to warn about the impacts of not acting on climate change.

“The signs are unmistakable. The science is undeniable. But the cost of inaction, keeps mounting,” Biden said. “The United States is not waiting, we are resolving to take action.”

Watch:

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02:23 - Source: cnn

President Biden?and?Vice President Kamala Harris are opening the inaugural session of the “Leaders Summit on Climate.”

Biden is expected to announce 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. He will commit the United States to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 50%-52% below its 2005 emissions levels by 2030.?

According to the schedule released by the State Department, the first session of the summit will “underscore the urgent need for the world’s major economies to strengthen their climate ambition by the time of COP 26 to keep the goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius within reach.”

Countries will also be able to highlight “the climate-related challenges” they face.

These are the world leaders that are participating in the first session:

President Biden will soon kick off a 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.

More on the US announcement: At the White House summit, which will take place virtually on Thursday and Friday, Biden will commit the United States to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 50%-52% below its 2005 emissions levels by 2030.

Officials said Biden and his team arrived at the final number in a meeting at the White House on Wednesday morning. The figures were struck after lengthy consultations with government agencies, scientists, industry representatives, governors, mayors and environmental researchers.?The move underscores the President’s?commitment to addressing the climate crisis?and follows on his pledge to work with other countries to find joint solutions to global issues.

What the President will not unveil, at least right now, is a specific road map for how the United States will reach those targets, which are being described as “economy-wide.”

Key summit topics: The summit will focus on mobilizing public and private sector finance to reach net-zero emissions and “build a resilient future,” according to the official. The US plans to discuss investing in innovation, which the administration argues is critical to creating transformational technologies to reduce emissions and at the same time creates new economic opportunities.

It’s hoped that other countries will follow the US’ lead with additional announcements of new goals to tackle the crisis, the administration official said.

The leaders who have confirmed attendance: Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping are two notable leaders who have both confirmed their attendance at the summit, underscoring the wide range of leaders attending. The summit will also be attended by many allies of the US, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Read more about the summit here.

President Biden hopes this week’s event will place the US back at the fore of global efforts to combat climate change, after four years in which the issue was neglected.

While former President Trump frequently touted the cleanliness of American air and water, he took steps to roll back the carbon reduction efforts made by the Obama administration.

A few months into his presidency,?Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris climate agreement?against the urging of top leaders, who said global unity on the issue was paramount. At a heated G7 summit held cliffside in Sicily, leaders like German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sought to?use their first encounter with Trump?to press him into remaining in the deal.

But Trump refused, announcing in the Rose Garden he had been “elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.”

White House officials insist progress on cutting emissions did not completely stop under Trump; instead it shifted to state and local governments, along with actions taken in the private sector. Indeed, after Trump declared he was looking out for Pittsburgh and not Paris, the mayor of Pittsburgh declared he would continue pressing ahead on reducing carbon emissions anyway.

“We’re pretty close to being on the trajectory we said we would be on,” a senior administration official said on Wednesday. “The fact that the change in the administration led to a top-line view that it wasn’t a priority didn’t in fact effect a lot of the trajectory in the country.”

Biden, who has already reentered the Paris deal, hopes to send a signal both to foreign leaders and an audience at home that he is adopting a different approach than the previous administration.

As the world’s most powerful leaders prepare to come together for President?Biden’s virtual climate summit, the Dalai Lama and 100 other Nobel Prize winners have a clear message for them: Keep fossil fuels in the ground.

The 101 Nobel laureates have written to Biden and those attending the meeting on Thursday, urging them to take concrete steps to phase out fossil fuels in order to prevent catastrophic climate change.

“The burning of fossil fuels is responsible for almost 80% of carbon dioxide emissions since the industrial revolution,”?the letter, shared exclusively with CNN, says, adding: “Allowing the continued expansion of this industry is unconscionable.”

The signatories make it clear they believe it is up to the summit’s attendees to act. “Leaders, not industry, hold the power and have the moral responsibility to take bold actions to address this crisis,” they said.

The laureates outline three steps they say world leaders need to take:

“In addition to being the leading source of emissions, there are local pollution, environmental and health costs associated with extracting, refining, transporting and burning fossil fuels. These costs are often paid by Indigenous peoples and marginalized communities,” the letter says.

The letter, which was coordinated by the?Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, has been signed by some of the world’s most distinguished scientists, peace makers and writers.

Known to favor a back-slap and handshake style, President Biden will be limited to a computer screen as he seeks to restore American credibility on the world stage while also convincing fellow leaders to make bold pledges to stave off global warming.

Officials said the logistics of a virtual summit made pull-asides or individual bilateral meetings difficult to organize, and Biden has found previous virtual meetings with foreign leaders somewhat stilted.

This week’s meeting is the largest virtual summit of world leaders to be convened over the past pandemic-altered year.

When he begins traveling abroad, potentially as soon as June, Biden is expected to continue pressing on climate issues leading up to a major summit in Scotland in November.

The urgency of the matter was underscored this week in a new report from the International Energy Agency, which estimated carbon emissions from energy use are on track to spike by 1.5 billion tons in 2021 as heavy coal consumption in Asia – China, in particular – outweigh rapid growth in renewable sources.

That would be the second largest annual increase in energy-related emissions in history.

President Biden will commit the United States to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 52% as he convenes world leaders for a climate summit on Thursday.

The new target, long anticipated as a signal of the new president’s commitment to fighting climate change, will actually be a range: a 50%-52% cut of 2005 emissions levels by 2030.

Officials said Biden and his team arrived at the final number in a meeting at the White House on Wednesday morning.

The figures were struck after lengthy consultations with government agencies, scientists, industry representatives, governors, mayors and environmental researchers.

What the President will not unveil, at least right now, is a specific road map for how the United States will reach those targets, which are being described as “economy-wide.” Officials described “multiple pathways” for the US to arrive at the goal, and said the President’s climate task force would release sector-by-sector recommendations later this year on achieving the necessary cuts.

?“In the coming months you will continue to see from the administration a focus on driving forward the necessary actions that unlock the jobs opportunity that tacking the climate crisis presents,” the official said.?

Indeed, Biden is expected to focus heavily on the potential economic boon that fighting climate change could present. His critics have described attempts to move the country away from fossil fuel as job-killers. But Biden hopes to highlight the opportunities that would come along with overhauling technology to make it cleaner.

“There is only one playbook that works in this moment and that playbook is you chase after the economic opportunity that tacking the climate crisis presents and we’re doing that,” the official said.?

Officials said they conducted a “techno-economic” analysis across various sectors — including electricity, transportation, buildings, industry, lands and oceans — to identify various pathways for reducing emissions in each one. That included the potential for new standards and incentives that would limit greenhouse gasses.

?Read more about the announcement here.

In December 2020, before officially taking office, President Biden announced his climate team. It was a historic display of the then-President-elect’s effort to prioritize his administration’s response to the climate crisis.

On his first day in office, Biden took?executive actions?to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord, cancel the Keystone XL pipeline and direct agencies to review and reverse more than 100 Trump actions on the environment.

Just a week later, Biden?signed several more executive actions?related to the climate crisis, including one directing the secretary of the interior to pause on entering into new oil and natural gas leases on public lands or offshore waters.

Since the early days of his administration, Biden and other administration officials have emphasized that the White House is taking a “whole of government” approach to climate change.

They’ve also underscored that they believe the President’s actions will help spur job growth, and categorize people working in industries vulnerable to job loss, such as coal miners, under their umbrella of environmental justice.

“It’s about coming to the moment to deal with this maximum threat that we exist with as now facing us, climate change, with a greater sense of urgency,” he said at a January signing ceremony. “In my view, we’ve already waited too long to deal with this climate crisis. We can’t wait any longer.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin?confirmed they are attending the US-hosted?two-day virtual summit on climate.

The White House said a total of 40 world leaders were invited to the conference, which will be live streamed to the public.

“The Leaders Summit on Climate will underscore the urgency — and the economic benefits — of stronger climate action. It will be a key milestone on the road to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) this November in Glasgow,” it continued.

On the campaign trail,?Biden made climate change a central issue, setting a goal of ensuring that the US achieves net-zero emissions by 2050. He signed several executive actions his first week in office related to the climate crisis, including one directing the secretary of the interior to pause on entering into new oil and natural gas leases on public lands or offshore waters.

The President and other administration officials have emphasized that the White House is taking a “whole of government” approach to climate change. They’ve also underscored that they believe the President’s actions will help spur job growth, and categorize people working in industries vulnerable to job loss, such as coal miners, under their umbrella of environmental justice.

The event marks?the first time?since former President Barack Obama left office that the US has taken the lead on climate change issues. President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the Paris Climate Accord and was often publicly skeptical that global warming was a real phenomenon.