Opinion | Can the US catch up with China on climate leadership?

Name: Bundled up for summer, European glaciers covered with blankets to slow melting from climate change
Uploaded: 2021-02-24T19:30:17.000Z
Duration: 2 min 23 s
Description: Bundled up for summer, European glaciers covered with blankets to slow melting from climate change

China has been working on its green credentials since 2013 and become a front runner in clean energy technology

For the US to reestablish itself as a climate leader, it needs new emissions targets that are more ambitious than those Obama envisaged

Reading Time:3 minutes

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Adeel Mukhtar Mirza

Published: 3:30am, 25 Feb 2021Updated: 5:56am, 25 Feb 2021

As promised, President Joe Biden recommitted the US to the Paris climate agreement within hours of being inaugurated, and on February 19, the United States formally rejoined the pact to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Under the 2015 agreement, nations pledge to keep the increase in the global average temperature to well within 2 degrees Celsius – preferably 1.5 degrees – above pre-industrial levels, to lessen the catastrophic impact of climate change.

Some progress has been made. In 2015, the world was projected to be moving towards global warming of 3.6 degrees by 2100, but more recent analysis by Climate Action Tracker now projects a warming of 2.9 degrees. But this increase is still too high.

Due to Covid-19, the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) was postponed and the Climate Ambition Summit was held virtually last December to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Paris climate agreement. Before and after the summit, scores of countries adopted net-zero emissions targets or made other commitments.

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Bundled up for summer, European glaciers covered with blankets to slow melting from climate change

Biden has also pledged to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. But scientists are warning that keeping global warming to just below 2 degrees by 2100 will no longer be enough. Even if global warming is kept to 1.5 degrees, the climate impact will be destructive.

Opinion | Can the US catch up with China on climate leadership?

China has been working on its green credentials since 2013 and become a front runner in clean energy technology For the US to reestablish itself as a climate leader, it needs new emissions targets that are more ambitious than those Obama envisaged

China has been working on its green credentials since 2013 and become a front runner in clean energy technology

For the US to reestablish itself as a climate leader, it needs new emissions targets that are more ambitious than those Obama envisaged