World Leaders gather for Earth Day Summit
The two-day virtual Earth Day Summit kicked off on Thursday.
CAPE TOWN, April 23 (ANA) – American President Joseph Biden regained global influence on climate change on Thursday, launching the two-day virtual Earth Day Summit with a promise to cut US carbon in half by the end of the decade.
According to Al Jazeera, the new US pledge, declared by the White House on Thursday in honour of Earth Day, aims to reduce carbon emissions by at least half by 2030 compared to 2005 levels.
Biden also encouraged the other leaders to take advantage of the summit to announce their countries’ climate goals and how they wanted to curb pollution.
The White House summit is the first big turning point in a string of high-stakes prospects for action on climate change, ranging from G7 and G20 meetings in the summer and autumn to COP26, the United Nations climate conference organized by the United Kingdom in Glasgow in November, according to Sky News.
Biden is likely to announce more stringent carbon-reduction goals and warn other countries to follow suit as greenhouse gas emissions, and global temperatures continue to climb.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres began his speech by thanking America for assisting the world in focusing on the “existential danger” of climate change.
“Mother Nature is not waiting… The past decade was the hottest on record. Dangerous greenhouse gases are at levels not seen in three million years,” said Guterres, according to Al Jazeera.
Hundreds of world leaders started sharing their evaluations of climate-related issues, explaining their continuing commitments and announcing new measures to fulfil Guterres’ demand for achieving net-zero emissions by mid-century.
After a joint statement from the US and China promised expanded cooperation in the war against climate change, China’s President Xi Jinping announced that he would attend the summit.
According to scientists, the climate has now warmed by 1.1°C and could exceed 1.5°C by 2030. Experts still believe that countries’ emissions commitments are insufficient to avert much further temperature increases, stated The Council on Foreign Relations.
– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Devereaux Morkel
