A coalition of U.S. environmental groups has called on the U.S. to commit to reducing planetary warming emissions by at least half by the end of the decade.
Joe Biden’s government launches new emissions reduction target at a climate summit it convened on Earth Day, April 22, with other major economic powers, which it hopes will keep countries currently at risk , will galvanize in efforts to ward off catastrophic climate change.
A motley selection of environmental groups and leaders said the U.S. goal should be no more than a 50% reduction in its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, based on 2005 levels. The groups argue that it will be on track to satisfy Biden’s pursuit of net zero emissions by 2050, and also a major impact on countries and businesses deprived of US climate leadership during Donald Trump’s presidency.
“The target must be ambitious enough to show American leadership, but also credible; it can not only be snatched from the air,” said Nat Keohane, vice president of international climate at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). “It is ambitious, but also feasible. We need to show the US is bringing everything it can to this fight. ”
A new EOF report calls for an entire government effort to combat the climate crisis, with all cars sold in the US, from 2035 onwards to have no exemption, a clean electricity standard around the shifting network to renewable energy sources such as solar and wind, and new regulations to limit methane emissions through oil and gas drilling.
Other environmental groups, including the Union of Concerned Scientists, the World Resources Institute and the National Resources Defense Council, also have the idea of a 50% reduction, along with figures such as Jay Inslee, the governor of Washington, and Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of the city of New York, as of cardinal importance in stopping ever-increasing veld fires, floods, and heat waves suffered excessively by careless Americans with color.
“We see this important opportunity to strengthen equity and equity,” said Starla Yeh, a clean energy policy specialist at the Council for the Defense of Natural Resources. ‘The goal is not only achievable, but also cost-effective. The more progress we make this decade, the better off we will be. ”
The US first set an emission reduction target, known in diplomatic jargon as a nationally determined contribution (or NDC), in 2014 under the Barack Obama administration, promising to reduce emissions by 2025 to 2025. reduced at 2005 levels. The goal in itself does not reduce emissions, but helps set federal government policies and provides a framework for businesses, cities and states to work for.
According to Nathan Hultman, a 50% reduction by 2030 would be a challenge, which helped shape the Obama era, but would be feasible with a ‘whole society approach’.
The international credibility of the second largest carbon polluter in the world was severely damaged during the Trump administration when the US withdrew from the Paris climate agreement and broke down various rules to reduce emissions. The return of the US to the international corps has added expectations, with Laurence Tubiana, a French diplomat and key architect of the Paris Agreement, saying the US target should be ‘at least’ a 50% reduction.
“There are high expectations from US allies that the NDC needs to start with a ‘5’,” Keohane said. ‘There is a degree of urgency you hear from people in the White House, which is a sea change from even the Obama administration. I think they are serious about putting out an ambitious marker. ‘
John Kerry, Biden’s climate envoy, is currently on a trip to Europe to meet with leaders in the run-up to key UN climate talks in Glasgow later this year. Kerry met with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday and will hold talks with European Commission and French government officials this week.
Kerry said the UK was a ‘strong partner’ in tackling the climate crisis, but that the world’s largest issuers needed to do much more. Prior to his trip, Kerry said the world was “moving forward towards what is almost equivalent to a reciprocal suicide treaty” by not reducing emissions fast enough. China, the world’s largest emitter, recently unveiled a five-year plan that will severely disappoint environmentalists.