The United States needs to commit to reducing its global warming emissions by at least half by the end of the decade to face the climate crisis and encourage other countries to take further action, a coalition of American environmental groups called for.
Joe Biden’s administration is expected to unveil a new national emission reduction target at a climate meeting it convened with other major economic powers on Earth Day, April 22, which hopes to galvanize countries that are currently dangerously lagging behind. efforts to avoid a disastrous climate change.
A heterogeneous selection of groups and environmental leaders said that the US target should not be less than a 50% cut in its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, based on 2005 levels. This, the groups argue, will place the United States on the road to fulfilling Biden’s aspiration for zero net emissions by 2050, as well as providing a major boost to countries and companies that lost American climate leadership during Donald Trump’s presidency.
“The goal must be ambitious enough to show US leadership, but also reliable, it cannot just be taken down,” said Nat Keohane, vice president for international climate for the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). “This is ambitious, but it is also feasible. We need to show that the United States is bringing everything it can to this fight ”.
A new EDF report calls for a “total government effort” to combat the climate crisis, with all cars sold in the US with zero emissions from 2035 onwards, a clean electricity standard for switching the grid to renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power and new regulations to restrict methane emissions from oil and gas drilling.
Other environmental groups, including the Union of Concerned Scientists, the World Resources Institute and the National Resources Defense Council, also supported the idea of a 50% cut, along with figures like Jay Inslee, the governor of Washington, and Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, as crucial to contain the worsening forest fires, floods and heat waves that are disproportionately suffered by disadvantaged Americans of color.
“We see this important opportunity to reinforce equity and justice,” said Starla Yeh, a clean energy policy expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “The goal is not only achievable, but also economical. The more progress we make in this decade, the better it will be for us. “
The United States first set an emission reduction target, known in diplomatic jargon as a nationally determined contribution (or NDC), in 2014, during the Barack Obama administration, promising to cut emissions by up to 28% by 2025, at levels 2005. The target alone does not reduce emissions, but helps to define the federal government’s policy and provides a framework for companies, cities and states to work.
A 50% reduction by 2030 would be “a challenge”, according to Nathan Hultman, who helped design the Obama era goal, but would be achievable with a “society-wide approach”.
The international credibility of the second largest carbon polluter in the world was severely undermined during the Trump administration, when the U.S. pulled out of the Paris climate deal and dismantled several rules aimed at reducing emissions. The US’s return to the international world came with additional expectations, with Laurence Tubiana, a French diplomat and key architect of the Paris agreement, saying that the American target should be “at least” a 50% reduction.
“There are high expectations from America’s allies that the NDC needs to start with a ‘5’,” said Keohane. “There is a level of urgency that you hear from the White House people that is a radical change even for the Obama administration. I think they are serious about launching an ambitious marker. “
John Kerry, Biden’s climate envoy, is currently on a trip to Europe to meet with leaders in preparation for the crucial UN climate negotiations in Glasgow later this year. Kerry met with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday and this week will hold talks with officials from the European Commission and the French government.
Kerry said the UK is a “strong partner” to tackle the climate crisis, but that the world’s biggest emitters need to do much more. Before his trip, Kerry said the world was “marching towards what is almost equivalent to a mutual suicide pact” by failing to cut emissions quickly enough. China, the world’s largest emitter, recently launched a five-year plan that has severely disappointed environmentalists.