At the virtual climate summit attended by 40 countries, Biden called on them to combat climate change, saying ‘The signs are unmistakable. The science is undeniable. The cost of inaction is mounting.’
‘This is a moral imperative, an economic imperative,’ Biden argued. ‘Time is short, but I believe we can do this. And I believe that we will do. Thank you for being part of the summit.”
Symbolically, the summit is taking place on Earth Day and though China, the US, and Russia some of the biggest emitters of CO2 — together they’re responsible for about half of the world’s carbon emissions — the U.S. is lagging behind other nations in climate action.
So Biden stepped up, pledging the country will cut emissions blamed for climate change by 50 to 52 percent by 2030 .
In the President’s proposed $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan are actionable items to help reduce emissions, such as a clean energy standard to achieve net-zero emissions in the power sector by 2035 and money to electrify the vehicle fleet.
Even Russia’s Putin attended, saying forcefully that it would take international cooperation to tackle climate change, urging ‘broad and effective international cooperation in the calculation and monitoring of volumes of all types of harmful emissions into the atmosphere.’
‘Russia is genuinely interested in galvanizing international cooperation so as to look further for effective solutions to climate change as well as to all other vital challenges,’ he said.
40 world leaders joined the climate summit.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged Wednesday the UK would cut emissions by 78 % by 2035 and argued persuasively that:
‘It’s vital for all of us to show that this is not all about some expensive, politically correct green act of bunny hugging… This is about growth and jobs.’
An impressive list of speakers are also on the schedule to speak at the two-day summit, including Pope Francis, Michael Bloomberg, Bill Gates, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, World Bank President David Malpas, and Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser.