Joe Biden invited 40 world leaders to a virtual summit on the climate crisis, the White House said in a statement on Friday.
Heads of state, including Xi Jinping from China and Vladimir Putin from Russia, were invited to attend the two-day meeting that would mark Washington’s return to the front lines of the fight against man-made climate change after Donald Trump stepped down of the process.
“They know they are invited,” said Biden of Xi and Putin. “But I haven’t spoken to any of them yet.”
The start of the summit on April 22 coincides with Earth Day and will take place before an important UN crisis meeting scheduled for November in Glasgow, Scotland.
The Biden event is being held entirely online due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The president kept his campaign promise to return to the Paris climate deal on his first day at the White House after Trump withdrew from the deal.
The return of the world’s largest economy and second largest emitter of carbon dioxide came into effect on February 19 and means that almost all countries are now signatories to the agreement signed in 2015.
At the time of the summit, the United States will have announced “an ambitious 2030 emissions target”, according to a White House statement, and this will encourage others to boost their own goals in the Paris agreement.
“The summit will also highlight examples of how enhanced climate ambition will create well-paying jobs, promote innovative technologies and help vulnerable countries adapt to climate impacts,” said the White House in a statement.
The United States invited the leaders of the Big Savings Forum on Energy and Climate, which includes the 17 countries responsible for about 80% of global emissions and GDP, as well as heads of countries that are especially vulnerable to the impacts of the climate or are showing strong climate Leadership.
The President of the United States has put global warming at the center of his agenda and has already made waves in the domestic market by promising that emissions from the energy sector would be neutral by 2035, followed by the economy as a whole by 2050.
He also controlled new oil and gas drilling on federal and offshore land and is expected to soon seek a $ 2 trillion infrastructure package from Congress that would serve as an engine for future economic growth.
Biden dispatched his climate envoy, former Secretary of State John Kerry, to set the stage for the summit at meetings with European leaders earlier this month.
The meeting comes at a time when the world is lagging behind in its efforts to limit the end of the century’s warming to 1.5 ° C (2.7 ° F), which scientists say is necessary to avoid triggering hot spots. climatic inflection that would leave much of the planet inhospitable.
In an assessment of pledges made in recent months by some 75 countries and the European Union, the UN Climate Change said that only about 30% of global emissions were covered by the commitments.