Biden spells out U.S. climate goal, urges other world leaders to go big
Source: Washington Post
In one of the most surreal summit meetings ever, President Biden on Thursday hosted more than 40 world leaders in a bid to restore the United States damaged diplomatic reputation and to rally nations around the globe to make deeper cuts to greenhouse gas emissions.
With Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and special presidential envoy for climate John F. Kerry seated around a horseshoe-shaped table in the East Room of the White House, the faces of presidents and prime ministers flashed by on a large screen, one by one putting forth their own limited plans for meeting the goals of the 2015 Paris climate accord.
Biden kicked off the meeting promising to cut U.S. emissions to half of their 2005 levels by the end of the decade. Several other world leaders also pledged to speed up cuts to their own emissions, restore forests, phase out coal plants, and put people to work building wind turbines and solar panels. And many leaders beseeched the world to act more urgently and find more money to help nations already grappling with existential threats from rising seas and other impacts.
This was climate diplomacy in the pandemic age technical glitches and all as Biden virtually convened more than three dozen heads of state for an Earth Day summit intended to reassert U.S. leadership on international climate action and galvanize worldwide momentum ahead of a critical United Nations gathering in Scotland this fall.
Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/biden-spells-out-us-climate-goal-urges-other-world-leaders-to-go-big/ar-BB1fWWi1?ocid=DELLDHP&li=BBnb7Kz