Biden unveiled Thursday at the climate summit, a new American target of reducing emissions almost doubled, to mark America back in the fight against global warming and push the world to "
the action
”.
Read also: Car pollution: Biden should restore California's right to set its own standards
The 46th President of the United States promised, at the opening of this two-day virtual meeting with some 40 world leaders, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions of the world's largest economy from 50% to 52% d 'by 2030 compared to 2005. This goal almost doubles Washington's former commitment of a decrease from 26% to 28% by 2025.
Warning of "
the cost of inaction
" and touting the "
extraordinary
"
economic benefits
that can flow from ecological reforms, Joe Biden urged the rest of the world to follow the American example in the name of a "
moral imperative and economic
”.
"
We must take action, all of us
", "
we must accelerate
", he insisted, recalling that "
no country can solve this crisis on its own
".
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Climate summit: for Barbara Pompili the United States must play "a unifying role"
Expected at the turn
Joe Biden joined from the first day of his presidency, in January, the Paris agreement on the climate which Donald Trump had slammed the door four years ago.
Since then, in contrast to the climate-skeptic discourse of his Republican predecessor, he has declined warnings on “
the emergency
” to avoid a “
catastrophe
”.
And he unveiled a megaplan for American infrastructure with an important ecological transition component.
But he is expected at the turn when he organizes this summit on the occasion of Earth Day.
Before putting pressure on other global polluters to speed up the fight against global warming, he must reassure his country's inconstancy in this matter.
Read also: Bolsonaro, the climate pariah at the top of Biden
Chinese diplomacy mocked last week "
a bad student who returns to school after having skipped classes
."
In the absence of the United States during the Trump era, Xi Jinping had thus drawn applause at the end of 2020 by announcing that his country would begin to reduce its CO2 emissions before 2030, to achieve carbon neutrality in 2060, c that is to say to absorb as much as to emit.
Joe Biden's new commitment should allow the American economy to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. It is above all the American contribution, which is ambitious, to hope to participate in keeping global warming below + 2 ° C, if possible + 1.5 ° C, compared to the pre-industrial era, as provided for in the Paris agreement concluded in 2015. A planetary objective out of reach given the current state of national commitments.
Sino-American cooperation
The major invited powers, which together represent 80% of global emissions, have put themselves in working order before this summit, a step towards the major UN conference, COP26, scheduled for the end of the year in Glasgow, in Scotland. China, the first emitter of greenhouse gases, has pledged to "
cooperate
" against global warming with the second, the United States - the opposing superpowers, at loggerheads, putting aside their other differences on this occasion - .
Also at odds with the Americans, Vladimir Putin has promised that Russia, a major producer of hydrocarbons, will reduce the cumulative volume of its net greenhouse gas emissions below that of the European Union for the next 30 years. . As for the EU, it reached an agreement in extremis on a net reduction of “
at least 55%
” of its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to the 1990 level.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson must defend his stepped-up plan, announced on Tuesday, to cut UK emissions by 78% by 2035 from 1990, and his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau will pledge to cut them by 40 % to 45% by 2030 compared to 2005, instead of 30% previously, according to Radio-Canada.
And Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced that Japan would reduce its CO2 emissions to 46% by 2030 compared to 2013, against a previous target of 26%.
Read also: The majority of large companies in the world lagging behind on the climate
Even Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, close to Donald Trump but less so than Joe Biden, wrote to the latter to pledge to end illegal deforestation in the Amazon by 2030, despite the skepticism of observers. With the new announcements made or expected on Thursday, countries "
which account for more than half of the world economy
" will now have made commitments to reduce emissions, in line, as far as they are concerned, with the planetary objective of reduction in warming, welcomed a summit organizer.
