U.S. must slash emissions by end of decade: report
The U.S. special envoy for climate change John Kerry this week met with European leaders to deliver a clear message from Washington: America is back in the fight against global warming.
"We're back to be partners, we're back to be a fight to get this job done."
But a new report out Thursday presented the challenge in stunning, stark terms:
The United States must slash its greenhouse gas emissions between 57% and 63% below 2005 levels before the end of this decade.
No less than that, if it is to meet President Joe Biden's long term goal of zero net emissions by 2050.
Biden pledged to bring the United States back into the Paris Climate Accord, abandoned by the Trump administration.
A report from Climate Action Tracker, an independent scientific analysis produced by researchers, concluded that in order for the United States to do its share to limit the rise of global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius - the goal of the Paris Agreement - it needs to cut at least 57% of its emissions before 2030.
Biden’s climate team, led by National Climate Adviser Gina McCarthy and Climate Envoy John Kerry, is working with all government agencies and holding meetings with utilities and car companies as it crafts its new goal.
"We should be responsible to future generations by making sure that this decade does what the scientists tell us it needs to do, that takes a lot of hard work, and we look forward to the work, merci, thank you."/
The CAT report says that the Biden administration plan to decarbonize the U.S. power sector by 2035 is consistent with a Paris Agreement pathway but it needs to strengthen plans to slash emissions in buildings and vehicles.
