US President Joe Biden joins a summit on Semiconductor and Supply Chain Resilience on April 12, 2021, via a video conference from the Roosevelt Chamber in the White House.
Amr Alfiky | Getty Images
More than 300 businesses and investors have called on President Joe Biden to nearly double US targets to reduce global warming emissions by 2005 to below 2005.
In a letter published on Tuesday, corporate leaders of companies such as Google, Apple, Walmart, Unilever and General Electric praised the Biden government for rejoining the global climate agreement in Paris and aggressively addressing climate change.
The push of executives from some of the largest companies in the country to set a goal to reduce carbon dioxide, methane and other gas emissions by at least 50% – a target in line with what environmental groups want – comes before the climate of the world leaders summit presented by the administration on 22 April.
The Biden government intends to introduce a stricter emissions target for the Paris Agreement before or before the summit of world leaders. The Obama administration wanted to reduce emissions to 28% below 2005 levels by 2025, but former President Donald Trump halted federal efforts to achieve the goal and withdrew the US from the agreement in Paris.
The companies that signed the letter have more than $ 3 billion in annual revenue and more than $ 1 billion in assets. The letter points to a shift by the private sector to address their own impact on climate change and better align with the goals of the Biden government, which has promised to put the country on a path to net carbon emissions by 2050. to place.
Biden’s climate ambitions, including a comprehensive infrastructure package that invests heavily in clean energy technologies, will be paid for primarily by raising corporate tax rates, a move that could provoke objections from some of the companies that signed the letter.
The president has also promised to adopt new regulations for fossil fuel producers, automobiles and electric utilities. Signatories to the letter include utilities such as PG&E Corporation and Exelon, but no significant oil and gas companies.
“Many of us have set, or set, in line with climate science, since the inception of the Paris Agreement, climate leaders,” corporate leaders wrote in the letter. “The private sector has purchased renewable energy at record rates, and along with numerous cities across the country, many have committed themselves to a net future without emissions.”
Nearly every country in the world is part of the Paris Agreement, a distinctive, non-binding agreement among nearly 200 countries to reduce their planetary warming emissions. The US is the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world.