President Joe Biden will commit the United States to cutting its greenhouse emissions roughly in half by 2030 to begin his climate summit event with world leaders Thursday morning.
The White House did not confirm the target in a call with reporters on Wednesday, but multiple outlets reported it would be in the range of 50%.
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The aggressive target is symbolic and nonbinding without being approved by Congress, but Biden hopes it restores U.S. credibility and pushes other countries to announce more ambitious plans to cut emissions this decade as part of the Paris Agreement, which his predecessor, President Donald Trump, rejected.
Halving U.S. emissions by 2030 would essentially double the initial target set by the Obama administration as part of the Paris Agreement in 2015 to reduce emissions by 26% to 28% from 2005 levels by 2025. The U.S. was not on pace to meet the Obama administration target, but it might have an outside chance of achieving it because of the coronavirus pandemic that shut down the economy and slammed demand for transportation fuels, causing a record drop in emissions last year. Emissions are expected to rise again in 2021 as the economy recovers.
But environmental groups and some major businesses have called on Biden to submit a target, or “nationally determined contribution,” to reduce economywide emissions by at least 50% from 2005 levels by 2030. That level of aggression is necessary to put the U.S. on track to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. U.N. scientists have said the world must meet net-zero emissions globally in order to achieve the goal of the Paris Agreement to hold warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius.
A U.S. commitment to cut emissions 50% by 2030 would rank among one of the most aggressive pledges to the Paris Agreement, nearly on par with the European Union and Switzerland but behind the United Kingdom.
But to make his goal achievable, Biden would almost certainly need Congress to enact new domestic policies to reduce emissions from transportation and electricity, the top two polluting economic sectors. His $2.3 trillion infrastructure and climate spending proposal has the potential to be the centerpiece policy needed to reach the goal, but it is not expected to be passed until this summer at the earliest.
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Forthcoming emissions regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency over the power and transportation sectors could also contribute, along with efforts, both regulatory and voluntary from businesses, to control leaks of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from oil and gas operations better.
Even with a big target, the U.S. represents about 13% of global emissions, meaning the Biden administration needs the rest of the world to step up, too. China, the top emitter ahead of the U.S., has so far resisted announcing more aggressive emissions reduction targets for 2030, despite prodding from the U.S.
