On the last day of Biden’s two-day virtual summit on climate change, more ambitious targets of reducing greenhouse gas emissions were set. It saw the U.S. and many of its allies commit to significant new efforts and financing to reduce climate-damaging emissions.
Ambitious targets of reducing gas emissions were set during the last day of the virtual summit aimed at dealing with climate change, world leaders shared tales of climate-friendly breakthroughs.
The Biden administration has been dedicated to slowing global warming, as Biden earlier warned of catastrophic effects brought by climate change. Biden hopes more job opportunities will emerge as the U.S. will need more people to work together to slow global warming.
Presiding over the meeting, Biden showcased the United States’ own high-profile return to international climate efforts after former President Donald Trump’s withdrawal.
Meantime, President Xi Jinping, who leads the world’s No. 1 climate polluter, did not rule out the possibility of moving faster to slow the building of new coal-fired power plans.
South Korea said during the meeting that it would stop funding new coal-fired power plants, aimed at staving off the effects brought by climate change.
For the sake of the U.S. economy, Democrats are already doing their part to combat climate change, and steer the economy away from fossil fuels. However, Republicans are intransigent Trump’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Peace accord, and his pro-fossil fuel stance are absolutely correct, and they denounced China for hurting America’s economy because of being the world’s worst climate polluter. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has dismissed Washington’s plan, saying the $2.3 trillion infrastructure package was costly and ineffective.
Still, Washington’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions up to 52 percent by 2030 is very ambitious, as it doubles the target set by former President Barack Obama in the 2015 Paris Climate accord.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamen Netanyahu hailed the U.S.’ ambitious goal, and said he is also committed to improving crucial battery storage for solar, wind and other renewable energy.
The last day of the summit also featured billionaires Bill Gates and Mike Bloomberg, steelworker and electrical union leaders and executives for solar and other renewable energy. “We can’t beat climate change without a historic amount of new investment.” Said Bloomberg. He said promoting replacing coal-fired power plants with increasingly cheaper renewable energy is key to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Despite the rifts between the U.S. and other countries, Biden said this summit is aimed at forming a coalition to combat climate change. His decision to re-enter the Paris agreement and host the summit were welcomed by world leaders.
Closing the two-day virtual summit aimed at tackling climate change, President Biden spoke live during the closing speech, and echoed the sentiments of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who earlier said, “We cannot win this fight against climate change unless we go globally to fight it together.” Biden declared, “Go forth and spend, making good on pledges for rapid transitions to cleaner vehicles, power grids and buildings to stave off the worst of global warming. I know we can do this. Thank you for your commitment, thank you for joining the summit, and thank you for stepping up to confront this crisis before it’s too late. I look forward to working alongside you to confront the climate crisis, build a better world for all of our children and grandchildren. We’re gonna do this together. Thank you all, and god bless you, and let’s get to it. Thanks again.”
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