Biden promises to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030

President Joe Biden has opened the climate summit that he himself has promoted with a commitment to reduce at least half of the greenhouse gas emissions that cause warming. His ambitious proposal may lead to other large countries accelerating climate action efforts.

In an official statement prior to its intervention, the Administration assumes the objective of reducing emissions by between 50 and 52% by 2030 compared to 2005 levels, with the clear will to place north American industry in a leading position in the face of climate change.

The Democratic administration is committed to achieving a decarbonized economy by 2050 and sets an immediate goal of making the electricity sector carbon-free by 2035.

“Facing this moment is more than preserving our planet,” Joen Biden declared, speaking from a set with a television aesthetic for a virtual summit of 40 world leaders. “It’s about providing a better future for all of us,” he said, to move from “a moment of danger” to “a moment of opportunity.” “The signs are unmistakable. science is undeniable. the cost of inaction continues to rise,” he added.

Biden wants to offer the world the vision of the United States as a prosperous country focused on producing clean energy, where factories produce state-of-the-art batteries for export, workers build clean and efficient networks and connections, and crews of workers plug abandoned oil wells and recover mines while stopping methane (powerful greenhouse gas) leaks.

It’s an image that seems to be taken from a collective motivational exercise, in which autoworkers build modern, efficient electric vehicles with charging infrastructure to support them; engineers who manage to capture carbon from the atmosphere, and the great hope of green hydrogen allows, at last, to produce clean steel and cement free of CO2

The Biden administration’s pledge will require by far the most ambitious U.S. climate effort ever made, and will nearly double the gas reductions the Obama administration had committed to in the landmark 2015 Paris climate agreement (a cut of between 26% and 28% of emissions by 2030 from 2005).

Biden presents himself as the man who listens to science

Biden presents himself as the man who listens to science. Their plan is outlined when scientists argue that climate change (caused by coal plants, car engines and the use of other fossil fuels) is leaving a sequel of environmental impacts from warming: heat waves, sea level rise or aggravation of extreme weather events in some regions (droughts, floods, hurricanes, wildfires and other events).

“The United States is not waiting, the costs of delaying action are too high, and our nation is determined to act now,” the Biden administration said in a statement.

America is not waiting, the costs of delaying action are too high, and our nation is determined to act now.

“Climate change poses an existential threat, but responding to this threat offers an opportunity to support good-paying union jobs, strengthen America’s labor communities, protect public health, and promote environmental justice,” the note said.

But the Biden Administration, in anticipating the new objective, reveals above all aspirations and draws graphic images (typical of a united country), but there is a lack of specific plans, budget lines or legislative proposals to turn all this into reality.

Administration officials, who briefed reporters ahead of Biden’s announcement, did not mention or specify the complicated steps ahead for the U.S. to do without oil, natural gas and coal, the basis of the energy system that causes warming.

The statements place a lot of emphasis on a recipe that pivots largely on technology, including carbon capture and hydrogen energy, that have yet to be developed affordably at scale.

“There are several pathways to achieving these goals, and the U.S. federal, state, local, and tribal governments have many tools available to work with civil society and the private sector to mobilize investments to achieve these goals while forging a strong economy,” the official press release reads.

Biden’s pledge is, in any case, less ambitious than the EU27’s target to reduce its emissions by 55% by 2030 from 1990 levels. And it is below the new target announced by the UK: to achieve a 78% reduction by 2035 from 1990 levels.

The 50% reduction in emissions in 2005 would be equivalent to a 40% reduction if the same baseline were taken as a reference in Europe (1990).

Summaries of the policies and pledges of some of the major countries follow below.

EU27. It has committed to the UN to reduce its emissions by 55% by 2030 compared to 1990. It has more than met its targets for 2020, accumulating a decline of more than 24% since 1990, a period in which its economy has grown by 60%.

UNITED KINGDOM. It has announced a new commitment: to reduce gases by 78% by 2035 compared to 1990 levels, and has included actions in the field of air and maritime transport. The previous goal was a CO2 cut of 68% by 2030.

CHINA. The 14th economic and social development plan (approved last autumn) sets the goal of achieving a net zero emissions balance by 2060. In its plan, China reiterates its intention to reach a peak of CO2 emissions by 2030 and states that there will be a plan to implement it.

But China’s climate targets do not contain emission reduction targets in absolute terms, but in a relative way (reducing carbon intensity by 18%); and given that Beijing has refrained from setting an explicit five-year GDP growth target (unlike previous plans), China’s increase in emissions during the period is even more uncertain.

The think tank Climate Action Tracker has analysed China’s contribution to the 2030 Paris Agreement last year and called its targets “highly insufficient”.

The Chinese leader promised at the summit that his government will “strictly limit” the increase in coal consumption during the period of the current five-year plan (2021-2025) and that it will “reduce” it during the next five years. “Protecting the environment is protecting productivity, and improving it is boosting productivity,” Xi Jinping said.

JAPAN. Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga pledged to “lead global efforts” against climate change and announced his country’s new goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 46% by 2030.

The new emissions reduction target, which takes 2013 levels as a baseline, is almost double the 26% figure to which your country had previously committed.

Suga also said that investment in renewables and carbon footprint reduction technologies “must be the driving force of economic growth both in Japan and around the world.

SOUTH KOREA. South Korean President Moon Jae-in said he will raise his country’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction target by 2030, currently set at 24.4 percent. “We are committed to increasing our national contribution to the fight against climate change,” the South Korean president said, adding that Asia’s fourth-largest economy will send its new target to the UN later this year.

CANADA. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged to reduce Canada’s emissions over the next decade by as much as 45 percent, a percentage higher than the target set in the Paris agreement (a 30 percent reduction in its emissions compared to 2005). But even with the new target announced by Trudeau, Canada is still below U.S. and European reductions. Canada has never met any of its emissions reduction targets and is the only country in the world to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol, the first international treaty established to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in 2012 after ratifying it. A recent report noted that Canada’s carbon dioxide emissions increased in 2019 by 0.2% over 2018 and that the country’s emissions have only fallen by 1.1% compared to 2005. All this explains its reputation as a non-compliant country.

Canada is one of the world’s leading oil producers and is also one of the countries with the largest confirmed crude reserves. Environmental groups consider Canada’s tar sands deposits, the country’s main source of oil, one of the “dirtiest” crudes on the planet.

BRAZIL. Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro announced that his country will seek to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, ten years before the previous environmental commitment. He also recalled that his administration is making progress to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 37% by 2025 and 40% by 2030.

Bolsonaro also pledged to move forward to eliminate illegal deforestation in Brazil by 2030, a measure that can also reduce greenhouse gases and that had already been defended by his predecessors.

The president recalled that his country, the main economy in Latin America, is only responsible for 3% of greenhouse gas emissions thanks to “one of the cleanest energy matrices” on the planet, including the widespread use of ethanol.

Several environmental NGOs accused Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro of “distorting” data and offering an image “completely disconnected from reality.” Bolsonaro’s speech “is inserted in a context of data distortion” to try to “convince international leaders” that Brazil “can combat illegal deforestation,” WWF Brazil said in a statement. The executive director of WWF Brazil, Mauricio Voivodic, denounces in the note that since Bolsonaro assumed power, on January 1, 2019, “Brazil suffers a continuous dismantling of public policies aimed at the preservation of the environment.”

“The Bolsonaro government team seems to act in a direction contrary to national interests and environmental conservation,” he added.

MEXICO. The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, said that the country seeks to generate “clean and cheap” energy through hydroelectric plants, although at the same time he defended the use of oil for the domestic market. “Although we have discovered three large hydrocarbon deposits, the oil we are discovering will basically be used to cover the demand for fuels in the domestic market and the practice of exporting crude oil will end,” he said.

Mexico was once considered an international climate leader. It was the first developing country to submit a climate action plan (nationally determined contribution, in the jargon) in 2015. His plan called for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 22%. But his new 2020 plan — a 50% reduction in emissions by 2000 by 2050 — has been called by environmental groups “completely flawed” and “disappointing.” His plan promises nature-based solutions, such as coastal protection and reforestation, and the plans also include the restoration of hydroelectric projects. The country also promises to reduce emissions to 50% below 2000 levels by 2050.

But President López Obrador has actively moved against clean energy. His government canceled clean energy auctions. He also promised to revive the coal industry and has pushed for the construction of a giant refinery in the southeastern state of Tabasco.

The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, addressed his US counterpart, Joe Biden, directly to invite him to cooperate in the implementation of the Mexican reforestation program Sembrando Vida in Central America in order to stop the migratory wave, as he had already anticipated in recent days.

Source: The Vanguard