Xi Jinping of China and Vladimir Putin of Russia are among 40 world leaders President Joe Biden invited Friday to a virtual summit event the United States is hosting next month designed to galvanize support among top greenhouse gas-emitting countries for addressing climate change.
Hosting the summit April 22-23 was one of Biden’s campaign promises as a means toward encouraging countries to strengthen their commitments as part of the Paris Agreement that Biden re-entered after former President Donald Trump removed the U.S. from the pact.
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“The Leaders Summit on Climate will underscore the urgency – and the economic benefits – of stronger climate action,” the White House said in a statement on the invitations.
The Biden administration has promised to announce its own aggressive emissions reduction target for 2030 by the time of the summit in order to establish U.S. credibility. But the U.S. represents about 15% of global emissions, meaning the Biden administration needs the rest of the world to step up in order to meet the goal of the Paris Agreement to hold warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (the world is far off that pace based on current commitments to the Paris Agreement, which was signed in 2016).
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The Biden administration has been especially determined to get China, the world’s top emitter, to increase its ambition. Russia is also a major emitter and top oil and gas producer. Biden, in comments to reporters Friday, said he invited Xi and Putin to the summit but has not spoken to them about it. The U.S. has sought to cooperate on climate change with China and Russia, even as it tangles in other foreign policy arenas.
