The European Union welcomed the new US target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50-52% by 2030 (compared to 2005) announced by US President Joe Biden on Thursday 22 April at the US-led international climate summit.
“The new emissions reduction target of up to 52% is a great sign of US commitment to climate action and a welcome boost to global momentum”, wrote Frans Timmermans, the European Commission’s Executive Vice-President in charge of the European Green Deal, on Twitter.
According to the Climate Action Tracker initiative launched by Climate Analytics and the NewClimate Institute, the new US target would reduce global emissions by 5-10% by 2030.
The virtual summit, which brought together 40 leaders from around the world, also saw Commission President Ursula von der Leyen present the interim agreement on the ‘Climate Law’ reached by the European co-legislators (see EUROPE 12703/1).
“With this, we write into stone the goal set out by the European Green Deal – to make Europe climate-neutral by 2050. We also have agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030” (compared to 1990 levels), she said.
Saying that this decade will be the “‘make or break’ decade for our climate”, Ms von der Leyen also called on leaders to “strengthen that global unity around ambitious new goals” and to show that “ that we are ready for more climate action” at COP26 in Glasgow (scheduled for early November). A call to action was also expressed by many speakers, including the US President.
Ms von der Leyen also noted the Commission’s intention to include the transport and buildings sectors in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) (see EUROPE 12702/8).
Snowball effect?
In addition to the US and the EU, several countries have announced new climate targets or measures.
Shortly before the start of the summit, Japan announced that it was raising its emissions reduction target for 2030 from 26% to 46% (compared to 2013). At the summit, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga also said that his country would strive for an even greater reduction of 50%.
China’s President Xi Jinping has pledged to strictly limit the increase in coal consumption during the country’s 14th Five-Year Plan and to gradually reduce it during the 15th Five-Year Plan. No new announcements, however, on the targets set: China will strive to attain peak carbon emissions by 2030 and aim for carbon neutrality by 2060.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has announced that his country is now aiming for carbon neutrality by 2050, ten years earlier than the previous target. He also promised to “eliminate illegal deforestation in Brazil by 2030”.
In another important announcement, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said that his country would stop public funding of new coal-fired power plants abroad and had already stopped issuing permits for such plants in the country. In addition, he said that Korea would publish a revised nationally determined contribution (NDC) later this year.
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled his country’s new climate target to reduce emissions by 40-45% by 2030 (compared to 2005). (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)