Shortly after taking office, former US President Donald Trump pulled out of the non-binding Paris Agreement on climate change, claiming it would hurt the US economy. He…
At the Leaders Summit on Climate hosted by US President Joe Biden on Thursday, the heads of some of the world’s leading industrial polluters vowed steep cuts to their carbon emissions in the coming years, while developing nations came together to call on developed nations to help support their green energy transitions. The Earth’s average surface temperature has already increased by 1.1 degrees Celsius since the late 19th century, when heavy industrialization began on an increasing scale, and the seven most recent years have successively been the warmest on record. The worst estimates project an increase by as much as 5.5 degrees Celsius over the next 100 years, and at both poles, ice sheets are melting at a shocking rate, threatening greater sea level rise. The Arctic Ocean’s summer sea ice is expected to disappear as early as 2035, endangering a major factor in limiting global warming. Ahead of the summit, many of the leading industrial powers, including China, the US and members of the European Union, separately laid out their own stricter climate change-averting measures, including setting deadlines for transitioning to carbon-neutral economies. In a rare moment of unity, Washington and Beijing even issued a joint statement expressing their commitment to “tackle the climate crisis… with the seriousness and urgency that it demands.” The EU also laid the groundwork for its own climate law. Much of the Thursday summit, which was held on both the Earth Day environmentalist holiday and the fourth anniversary of the signing of the Paris Climate Agreement, was thus a reiteration of those goals with some further elaboration on how they will be achieved or a commitment to provide such information.
