Story at a glance
- A new report from the Environmental Defense Fund says the U.S. should set a target of reducing total net greenhouse gas emissions to at least 50 percent below 2005 levels by 2030 to be aligned with the goals of the Paris Climate agreement.
- The group says doing so will put the U.S. on track to meet the Biden administration’s goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.
- On April 22, President Biden will host other world leaders at an Earth Day summit to push major emitters to strengthen their commitments to reducing emissions.
Environmental groups are pushing the Biden administration to commit to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least half by the end of the decade.
A new report from the Environmental Defense Fund says to meet the scale of the climate crisis and “recapture its role as a global climate leader,” the U.S. should set a target of reducing total net greenhouse gas emissions to at least 50 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.
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The group says doing so will put the U.S. on track to meet the Biden administration’s goal of net-zero emissions by 2050 and will push other countries to implement more ambitious climate goals. The report calls for all cars sold in the U.S. to be zero emissions by 2035, a clean electricity standard to transition the grid to renewable energy sources and new regulations to curb methane emissions from oil and gas drilling.
“The target has to be ambitious enough to show U.S. leadership, but also credible, it can’t just be plucked from thin air,” Nat Keohane, vice president for international climate at the Environmental Defense Fund, told The Guardian. “This is ambitious but also feasible. We need to show the US is bringing everything it can to this fight.”
In 2014, the Obama administration set the target to cut emissions by up to 28 percent by 2025 from 2005 levels. The Wall Street Journal reports environmental groups and climate data analysts in recent weeks have made the case in private meetings at the White House that cutting emissions by half by 2030 is achievable if it accounts for actions already being taken by businesses and local governments across the country.
On April 22, President Biden will host other world leaders at an Earth Day summit to push major emitters to strengthen their commitments to reducing emissions. The administration is expected to unveil a new national emissions reduction target at the summit.
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