Biden Urges Global Carbon Cut, Pledges $1 Billion to UN Fund

(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden implored world leaders to strengthen their carbon-cutting ambitions and unite behind a pledge to make half of all light-duty vehicles sold in 2030 emission-free models. 

“Today, we have to do more than recognize the climate challenges we face,” Biden said Thursday as he opened a meeting of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate that brings together some of the world’s top emitters, such as China, Japan, Germany and Saudi Arabia. “It seems to me we have to recommit ourselves to action while we still have the time.”

The president committed $1 billion to the UN Green Climate Fund, even as he requested $500 million over five years to bolster Brazil’s commitment to end deforestation in the Amazon. 

“The time to act is narrowing,” Biden said. 

The session convened just before Earth Day and roughly seven months before a critical United Nations climate summit meant to appraise the world’s progress in cutting greenhouse gas pollution. 

A new International Energy Agency report, released Thursday, will underscores the urgency of action, by outlining steps necessary to limit global warming to 1.5C — and the shortfall under current government policies. 

Biden used the White House meeting to encourage greater climate change-fighting zeal, insisting countries need to “recommit ourselves to action” and “step up our ambitions.” The president will ask countries to align their formal emissions-cutting pledges with a bid to keep global warming below 1.5C, a critical tipping point, according to senior White House officials previewing the summit. 

He also encouraged world leaders to devote more money to the fight, including by raising another $100 million toward a $200 million target for finance to combat methane pollution in developing countries. 

“The impacts of climate change will be felt the most by those who have contributed the least to the problem,” including developing economies, Biden said. 

Congress has rebuffed Biden and Obama administration pledges to dole money to the Green Climate Fund, which helps developing nations shift from fossil fuels to clean energy and deal with the effects of global warming. But a senior administration official described the $1 billion contribution as money in hand that would come later this year — effectively doubling total American contributions to $2 billion.

Congress last year denied Biden’s request for $11.4 billion in international climate finance. The US funding shortfall is a source of contention in international climate talks, as many countries bearing the brunt of global warming look for help from rich nations that freely emitted greenhouse gases by burning fossil fuels while developing their economies. 

The Biden administration is trying to find the resources to hit the $11.4 billion annual target, including by finding novel ways to tap its powers, the official said.

Since the Paris Agreement in 2015, countries have cut greenhouse gas emissions enough to pare expected warming by about a degree, a senior administration official said. 

Yet the IEA documents a big gap between countries’ commitments and policies, the official added. According to the analysis, if countries’ promises were fulfilled, warming would stabilize at 1.7 degrees by 2100; however, current policies have the world on track for roughly 2.5 degrees of warming. 

Biden’s vehicle push, anchored by a new Environmental Protection Agency plan to limit tailpipe pollution, could see countries join the US in a commitment to ensure 30% of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, such as buses and delivery trucks, are emission-free models.

The president is also set to ask other world leaders to support stronger carbon-cutting plans by the maritime industry, including a goal of zero emissions from international shipping no later than 2050. 

Expected attendees at Thursday’s forum account for roughly 80% of global GDP and greenhouse gas emissions, with China represented by its top climate negotiator Xie Zhenhua.

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