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The U.S. has vowed to halve its carbon emissions by the end of this decade, as President Joe Biden promised that the new targets will help create jobs and keep America competitive.
Canada, Japan and South Korea also made new climate commitments in the Biden a two-day virtual environmental summit40 world leaders took part, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, who wanted to convince more countries to reduce emissions.
Xi pledged to “reduce” coal consumption by 2025, the first time the Chinese leader has promised to reduce coal consumption.
In a press conference last night by Beijing officials after Xi’s speech, however, it was stated that this would allow China’s coal consumption to grow until 2026.
Chinese Undersecretary of State Planning Su Wei said coal is still needed to ensure a stable energy supply. “We need a stable source of electricity and we have no other choice, so we will need coal for the time being” to form unstable renewable energy sources, he said.
A US-led summit on Earth Day, just three months from the US re-entered the Paris climate agreement, Is an attempt to restore U.S. leadership on an issue that has been a top priority for the Biden administration.
“We are here to discuss at this summit that each of us, each country, can establish ambitious climates that will create paid jobs,” Biden told the gathered leaders. “We have no choice. We have to get this.”
Biden said holding a UN COP26 climate summit in Glasgow in November would be essential to tackling the “existential crisis of our time”.
The new U.S. targets will reduce annual carbon emissions by 1.5 trillion-2.4b tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2030, compared to the current trajectory, according to estimates by the Climate Action Tracker.
Annual global carbon emissions will be around 33 billion tons this year, according to the International Energy Agency.
South Korea has pledged to stop funding foreign coal projects, as requested by U.S. climate envoy John Kerry during a visit there last weekend.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has said his country will shrink by 46% by the end of this decade compared to 2013 levels.
However, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg said the targets are “not very sufficient” and have large gaps.
“Let’s call them their fools,” said 18-year-old Thunberg Video released on Twitter On the same day as the summit of the roads. “We are not so naive as we believe that countries and companies that pursue blurred distant goals will solve anything.”
Global temperatures have risen by more than 1C since 1850, and this year the UN’s COP26 climate summit will try to limit global warming to 1.5C, a goal set by the Paris climate agreement.
The commitments made by 197 Paris under the 2015 Paris Agreement are far from what would be needed to achieve the 1.5C target, as well as the new targets announced at the summit.
The UK, which is hosting COP26, has called on other rich countries to spend more money on climate finance, a topic that will be a key point in Glasgow.
A successful summit would “bring together the richest nations and already exceed the $ 100,000 billion commitment” [in annual climate finance]”Said Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
Offering a few moments of lightness at the summit, Johnson said the fight against climate change was not just a “rabbit hug” and was actually an opportunity to create jobs.
The Prime Minister also raised the issue of the UK increasing its economy while reducing emissions. “Cake, eat, eat, that’s my message to you,” he said.
Additional news by Ed White and James Politi
Climate Capital
Where climate change unites businesses, markets and politics. Browse FT coverage here
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