U.S. to set new climate targets
One day before hosting a virtual climate summit with 40 world leaders including Russia's Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping, the White House is still putting the finishing touches on an aggressive plan to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
PSAKI: "The message he's sending to the country and frankly to the world, is that he feels that the climate crisis we're facing around the world and certainly in this country as the world's largest emitters, is so significant that within a hundred days of his presidency he's convening the world's largest economies to have a discussion about that."
The White House is expected to announce a target to cut emissions roughly 50% by 2030 compared with 2005 levels.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the plan’s details are imminent:
PSAKI: “Well obviously he’s put in place a number of executive actions, and he’ll announce - we’ll have more specifics to announce in the coming days about what targets we are setting here in the United States.”
The United States has been the largest historic emitter of greenhouse gasses and currently ranks second only to China.
Its target will be watched closely as a signal of how seriously Biden takes climate change.
He has promised to restore U.S. leadership on global warming after former President Donald Trump withdrew the country from the Paris climate accord.
Biden brought the United States back into the Paris agreement in January, and the two-day summit is designed to showcase a renewed U.S. and global commitment to a greener future.
