Biden’s climate summit to push for ‘immediate’ action

Biden summit to push for 'immediate' action
Protestors outside the White House hold cardboard cut outs of the leaders due to meet. Source: Reuters
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Daily US Times: The United States will attempt to re-assert its global leadership on climate change as President Biden hosts 40 leaders at a virtual climate summit in the White House.

It is expected that the US will unveil an updated carbon pledge on Thursday’s climate summit that will see their emissions nearly halved by 2030.

Ahead of the summit, officials urged greater ambition on countries perceived as laggards on climate.

A White House official said, referring to Australia, “there would have to be a shift” in their approach.

President Biden has made climate change a key focus in the early days of his administration and he is hosting this summit with world leaders to face the climate crisis.

As well as re-joining the Paris climate agreement on his first day in the White House, he announced early on that he would gather around 40 world leaders for a global summit on 22 April, the Earth Day.

China’s President Xi Jinping is among those attending.

Despite serious tensions between Beijing and Washington on a host of issues, both sides seem keen to keep climate change separate from these disputes.

The two countries issued a joint statement last week saying they would tackle climate “with the seriousness and urgency it demands”.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, a senior official of the Biden administration spoke warmly about the potential for co-operation.

He said: “It’s quite clear that there is a distinctly shared level of ambition. Both countries see this as a crisis. Both countries see the need for action in the 2020s. Both countries see the need to work towards holding the increase in global temperatures to 1.5C.”

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