WASHINGTON—President Biden told world leaders that the U.S. is committed to sharply cutting its greenhouse-gas emissions in the next decade, as other countries also promised climate action and some urged rich nations to shoulder more responsibility.
“No nation can solve this crisis on our own,” Mr. Biden said at the start of a two-day virtual climate summit at the White House. “All of us, and particularly those of us that represent the world’s largest economies, we have to step up.”
The climate summit is aimed at jump-starting negotiations for a global deal to curb emissions world-wide. The event features 40 heads of state, with allies and rivals such as Russia and China among them.
Mr. Biden used the summit to unveil a new target that calls for U.S. emissions to be 50% to 52% lower in 2030 than levels in 2005, a common baseline for such climate targets.
In 2019, the most recent year for which complete data is available, U.S. emissions were about 13% below 2005 levels, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Emissions last year were projected to be down 21% from that 2005 baseline, due in part to a slowdown related to the pandemic. But this year, emissions are tracking higher again as the economy recovers.
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