Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Trump Vowed to Dismantle MS-13. His Deal With Bukele Threatens That Effort.

2 hours ago

Ukraine Voices Concern as US Halts Some Missile Shipments

3 hours ago

Poll: Most Americans Say National Divide, Political Violence Threaten Democracy

3 hours ago

Paramount Settles With Trump Over ‘60 Minutes’ Interview for $16 Million

3 hours ago

Republicans Tee up House Vote on Trump Bill, Outcome Uncertain

3 hours ago

What’s Next for Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs After His Sex Trafficking Trial?

3 hours ago

Dalai Lama Says He Will Be Reincarnated, Trust Will Identify Successor

4 hours ago

Shaver Lake and Reedley 4th of July Shows Are Wednesday. Who Else Is Celebrating?

2 days ago
Biden to Pledge Halving Greenhouse Gases by 2030
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 4 years ago on
April 21, 2021

Share

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will pledge to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions at least in half by 2030 as he convenes a virtual climate summit with 40 world leaders, according to three people with knowledge of the White House plans.

The 50% target would nearly double America’s previous commitment and help the Biden administration prod other countries for ambitious emissions cuts as well. The proposal would require dramatic changes in the power and transportation sectors, including significant increases in renewable energy such as wind and solar power and steep cuts in emissions from fossil fuels such as coal and oil.

World Leaders to Discuss Combating Climate Change

The nonbinding but symbolically important pledge is a key element of the two-day summit, which begins Thursday when world leaders gather online to share strategies to combat climate change. China announced on Wednesday that President Xi Jinping will participate. China is the world’s largest carbon polluter, with the U.S. second.

The U.S. emissions target has been eagerly awaited by all sides of the climate debate. It will signal how aggressively Biden wants to move on global warming, a divisive and expensive issue that has riled Republicans to complain about job-killing government overreach even as some on the left worry Biden has not gone far enough to address a profound threat to the planet.

Administration officials promised significant announcements on emissions cuts but would not confirm the U.S. goal before the summit.

The European Union on Wednesday reached a tentative deal intended to make the 27-nation bloc carbon-neutral by 2050. The agreement commits the EU to an intermediate target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared with 1990 levels.

Biden has sought to ensure that his 2030 goal, known as a Nationally Determined Contribution, or NDC, is aggressive enough to have a tangible impact on climate change efforts — not only in the U.S. but throughout the world — while also being achievable under a closely divided Congress.

Net-Zero Carbon Emissions by 2050

The climate target is a key requirement of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, which Biden rejoined on his first day in office. It’s also an important marker as Biden moves toward his ultimate goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Scientists, environmental groups and even business leaders had called on Biden to set a target that would cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% below 2005 levels by 2030.

“Wow. That’s ambition with a capital A,” Georgia Tech climate scientist Kim Cobb said Tuesday after learning of Biden’s plans. “That target would put us roughly in line with the most ambitious emissions reductions targets” projected by scientists and environmentalists.

Cobb, like other experts, said details of Biden’s strategy will be crucial, “because those details will likely determine whether this ambitious new goal can be translated into policy. The clock is ticking fast, environmentally and politically.”

Pennsylvania State University climate scientist Michael Mann said the 50% goal “is precisely what is needed … an actionable goal within the next decade that puts us on the path toward limiting warming below a catastrophic 1.5 degrees Celsius” globally.

Climate Change a Centerpiece of Biden’s Presidency

The climate summit that Biden is hosting is among his first international actions since the United States officially returned to the Paris accord. The U.S. withdrawal from the global pact under former President Donald Trump was part of Trump’s effort to step away from global allegiances in general and his oft-stated but false view that global warming was a hoax or at least an overstated claim by the world’s scientists.

Biden has made action on climate change a centerpiece of his presidency. He has also paused new oil and gas drilling on federal lands and proposed a $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan that would remake the U.S. power grid and add 500,000 charging stations for electric vehicles, among other actions intended to sharply cut fossil fuel pollution that contributes to global warming.

The summit is “the starting gun for climate diplomacy” after a four-year “hiatus” under Trump, said Kate Larsen, a former White House adviser who helped develop President Barack Obama’s climate action plan. She is now a director at the Rhodium Group, an independent research firm.

Former Secretary of State John Kerry, Biden’s top climate envoy, has been pressing global leaders, including his counterpart in China, for commitments and alliances on climate efforts.

The U.S. Must be a ‘Global Leader in Climate Action’

Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., who reintroduced the Green New Deal on Tuesday with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said the 50% target was appropriate to meet the scope and scale of the climate crisis.

“The United States must be an undeniable global leader in climate action,” Markey said. “We cannot preach temperance from a barstool and not pay our fair share when approximately 40% of all the excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is red, white and blue.”

A 50% reduction by 2030 is “technically feasible and well within our reach,” Markey added. “We can and should fight to pass legislation and deploy funding that will allow us to exceed that target.”

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said Biden’s pledge would set “punishing targets” for the U.S. even as adversaries such as China and Russia “continue to increase emissions at will. The last thing the economy needs is higher energy prices and fewer jobs, but that’s exactly what we’re going to get.”

On the other end of the political spectrum, the Center for Biological Diversity, a leading environmental group, said the 50% cut “simply isn’t big enough to meet the massive scale of the climate emergency.”

Like other nations, the U.S. goal includes methane and some hydrofluorocarbon gases that trap more heat but don’t last as long as carbon dioxide.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Trump Pulls Back 150 Guard Troops From Federal Duties in California

DON'T MISS

Trump Says Israel Has Agreed to Conditions to Finalize 60-Day Gaza Ceasefire

DON'T MISS

Fresno County Man Arrested for Suspected Arson Hours After Separate Wildfire

DON'T MISS

New California Environmental Rollbacks Could Boost Housing Projects in Fresno

DON'T MISS

Iran Made Preparations to Mine the Strait of Hormuz, US Sources Say

DON'T MISS

Fresno Unified’s Embattled Nikki Henry Exits. ‘I Own My Mistake. I Won’t Let It Own Me.’

DON'T MISS

Trump Floats Daughter-in-Law Lara Trump for Senate Run in North Carolina

DON'T MISS

Google Hit With $314 Million US Verdict in Cellular Data Class Action

DON'T MISS

Tulare County Wildfire Prompts Advisory in Three Rivers Area

DON'T MISS

O’Brien Launches Fresno County Schools Chief Campaign by Handing Out ‘Homework’

UP NEXT

California Republicans Send Message to Trump: Deport Criminals, Not Our Vital Workers

UP NEXT

CA Rolls Back Its Landmark Environmental Law to Speed Housing Construction

UP NEXT

California Seizes Over 600,000 Pounds of Illegal Fireworks. Newsom Calls for Safe Celebrations

UP NEXT

Suspect Identified in Ambush Shooting That Killed 2 Idaho Firefighters

UP NEXT

Buying a Home With Solar? Beware of CA Bill Written by Former Utility Co. Exec

UP NEXT

Trump Administration Sues Los Angeles Over Immigration Enforcement

UP NEXT

Suspect Identified in Ambush Shooting That Killed 2 Idaho Firefighters

UP NEXT

Immigration Raids Leave Crops Unharvested, California Farms at Risk

UP NEXT

CA’s Population Shrank in Trump’s First Immigration Crackdown. It Could Happen Again

UP NEXT

Controversial Climate Rule That Could Raise Gas Prices About to Take Effect

Downtown Housing Could Rise in Many California Cities, but Barriers Remain

1 hour ago

Bryan Kohberger to Plead Guilty to Murders of Four Idaho Students

1 hour ago

Dear Mayor and City Council, Fresno’s Housing Bottlenecks Are a Modern Form of Redlining

2 hours ago

Iran Enacts Law Suspending Cooperation With UN Nuclear Watchdog

2 hours ago

Valley Children’s Goes Into News Business to Highlight Stories at the Hospital

2 hours ago

Trump Vowed to Dismantle MS-13. His Deal With Bukele Threatens That Effort.

2 hours ago

Ukraine Voices Concern as US Halts Some Missile Shipments

3 hours ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Logan Ryan Martin

3 hours ago

Poll: Most Americans Say National Divide, Political Violence Threaten Democracy

3 hours ago

Meta’s Instagram Down for Thousands of Users in US, Downdetector Shows

3 hours ago

Fresno Fire Investigators Seek Public’s Help in Arson Case

Fresno Fire officials are asking for the public’s help in identifying a person of interest in connection with a house fire determined to be ...

32 minutes ago

Fresno Fire officials are seeking help identifying a person of interest after a Thursday, June 26, 2025, house fire near Shields and Valentine was ruled arson. (Fresno FD)
32 minutes ago

Fresno Fire Investigators Seek Public’s Help in Arson Case

A California Highway Patrol officer died early Wednesday, July 2, 2025, after a suspected medical emergency caused his patrol vehicle to crash in Los Angeles. (CHP)
41 minutes ago

CHP Officer Dies in Line of Duty After Medical Emergency While on Patrol

A general view shows destruction in North Gaza, as seen from Israel, May 27, 2025 (REUTERS/Amir Cohen TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)
54 minutes ago

From Victims to Perpetrators: Israeli Soldiers’ Nazi Comparisons and the Unfolding War Crimes in Gaza

San Francisco Housing Development
1 hour ago

Downtown Housing Could Rise in Many California Cities, but Barriers Remain

Bryan Kohberger, right, who is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022, is escorted into a courtroom to appear at a hearing in Latah County District Court, in Moscow, Idaho, U.S., September 13, 2023. (Reuters File)
1 hour ago

Bryan Kohberger to Plead Guilty to Murders of Four Idaho Students

2 hours ago

Dear Mayor and City Council, Fresno’s Housing Bottlenecks Are a Modern Form of Redlining

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks during a meeting in Ilam, Iran, June 12, 2025. (Reuters File)
2 hours ago

Iran Enacts Law Suspending Cooperation With UN Nuclear Watchdog

2 hours ago

Valley Children’s Goes Into News Business to Highlight Stories at the Hospital

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend