WASHINGTON (CN) — Ringing in Earth Day, President Joe Biden announced the United States will commit to reducing its carbon emissions by up to 52% by the end of this decade, an ambitious goal that will require the U.S. to fundamentally alter its relationship with fossil fuels.
“The U.S. is setting out to cut greenhouse gases in half by the end of the decade. ... No nation can solve this crisis on our own," President Biden said Thursday in his welcome to the more than 40 leaders attending the virtual two-day White House Climate summit.
Biden's pledge marks a dramatic shift in America’s approach to climate change from the last administration wherein former President Donald Trump removed the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement in 2017 and took frequent opportunity to deride the matter altogether, calling it everything from a "Chinese hoax” to an excuse for the federal government to raise taxes.
As the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports, however, the climate is changing — growing warmer and far wetter at an accelerated clip — and there is a 95% chance it is because of human activity.
This dynamic requires what the White House says is redoubled effort to tackle one of the world’s most significant and complicated problems, as well as a firm commitment to modernizing the way America thinks about climate change.
In that vein, ahead of Thursday’s summit, the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration announced it will soon release conclusions from a new study of its own. The study tracked temperature and precipitation averages from 1991 to 2020, elements key to understanding of not just where humanity has been but where we might be going. Underlining the importance of the study this week, the NOAA noted that experts have been using average precipitation and temperature data in the U.S. that has been outdated for some time and has, until now, failed to fully take climate change effects of the last decade into consideration.
Under former President Barack Obama, the U.S. vowed to cut its carbon emissions by 26% to 28% by 2025, making Biden’s new target of cleaving emissions by over half a considerable swing for the fences.
The White House has said it reached its new goal after consulting with federal agencies, environmental groups, scientists, mayors, tribal leaders, industry leaders, health care organizations, faith groups and others.
“The United States is not waiting, the costs of delay are too great, and our nation is resolved to act now,” the White House said in a statement before Biden’s remarks on Thursday. "Climate change poses an existential threat but responding to this threat offers an opportunity to support good-paying, union jobs, strengthen America’s working communities, protect public health, and advance environmental justice."
Senator Tom Carper, a Democrat from Delaware who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said Thursday the Biden administration’s tack was welcome because it incorporated both environmental concern and economic understanding.
“President Biden understands that the dire threat of climate change presents us with a remarkable opportunity — if we take action and lead by example with the international community, we can protect our planet and strengthen our nation’s economy today and for future generations to come,” Carper said.
Republicans on Capitol Hill could pose a major thorn in Biden's side as the administration tries to take up its commitment to reducing greenhouse gases. Senator John Barasso, a Republican who sits on powerful energy committees in Congress, called Biden's emissions plan "drastic" in a statement Thursday, noting that it would likely hurt the U.S. while letting nations like China — a huge greenhouse gas emitter — off the hook.