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Biden Pressed on Emissions Goal 04/19 06:16
When President Joe Biden convenes a virtual climate summit on Thursday, he
faces a vexing task: how to put forward a nonbinding but symbolic goal to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions that will have a tangible impact on climate
change efforts not only in the U.S. but throughout the world.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- When President Joe Biden convenes a virtual climate
summit on Thursday, he faces a vexing task: how to put forward a nonbinding but
symbolic goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that will have a tangible
impact on climate change efforts not only in the U.S. but throughout the world.
The emissions target, eagerly awaited by all sides of the climate debate,
will signal how aggressively Biden wants to move on climate change, a divisive
and expensive issue that has riled Republicans to complain about job-killing
government overreach even as some on the left worry Biden has not gone far
enough to address a profound threat to the planet.
The climate crisis poses a complex political challenge for Biden, since the
problem is harder to see and far more difficult to produce measurable results
on than either the coronavirus pandemic relief package or the infrastructure
bill.
The target Biden chooses "is setting the tone for the level of ambition and
the pace of emission reductions over the next decade," said Kate Larsen, a
former White House adviser who helped develop President Barack Obama's climate
action plan.
The number has to be achievable by 2030 but aggressive enough to satisfy
scientists and advocates who call the coming decade a crucial, make-or-break
moment for slowing climate change, Larsen and other experts said.
Scientists, environmental groups and even business leaders are calling on
Biden to set a target that would cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by at least
50% below 2005 levels by 2030.
The 50% target, which most experts consider a likely outcome of intense
deliberations underway at the White House, would nearly double the nation's
previous commitment and require dramatic changes in the power and
transportation sectors, including significant increases in renewable energy
such as wind and solar power and steep cuts in emissions from fossil fuels such
as coal and oil.
Anything short of that goal could undermine Biden's promise to prevent
temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, experts say, while
likely stirring up sharp criticism from international allies and Biden's own
supporters
The target is significant, not just as a visible goal for the U.S. to
achieve after four years of climate inaction under President Donald Trump, but
also for "leveraging other countries,'' Larsen said. "That helps domestically
in the battle that comes after, which is implementing policies to achieve that
target. We can make a better case politically at home if other countries are
acting at the same level of ambition as the U.S."
The 2030 goal, known as a Nationally Determined Contribution, or NDC, is a
key part of the Paris climate agreement, which Biden rejoined on his first day
in office. It's also an important marker as Biden moves toward his ultimate
goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
"Clearly the science demands at least 50%" in reduced greenhouse gas
emissions by 2030, said Jake Schmidt, a climate expert at the Natural Resources
Defense Council, a leading environmental group.
The 50% target "is ambitious, but it is achievable,'' he said in an
interview. It's also a good climate message, he said: "People know what 50%
means -- it's half.''
Whatever target Biden picks, the climate summit itself "proves the U.S. is
back in rejoining the international effort" to address climate change, said
Larsen, now a director at the Rhodium Group, an independent research firm.
The summit is "the starting gun for climate diplomacy" after a four-year
"hiatus" under Trump, she said. John Kerry, Biden's climate envoy, has been
pressing global leaders in person and online ahead of the summit for
commitments and alliances on climate efforts.
Nathaniel Keohane, another former Obama White House adviser and now a vice
president at the Environmental Defense Fund, said experts have coalesced around
the need to reduce emissions by at least 50% by 2030.
"The number has to start with 5," he said, adding, "We've done the math. We
need at least 50%.''
The 2030 target is just one in a sometimes overlapping set of goals that
Biden has outlined on climate. He also has said he expects to adopt a clean
energy standard that would make electricity carbon-free by 2035, along with the
wider goal of net-zero carbon emissions economy-wide by 2050.
Biden's climate adviser, Gina McCarthy, acknowledged that the sheer volume
of numbers can be confusing. At a forum last week, she and former New York
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said climate activists should focus on actions in the
next decade.
"Let's stop talking about 2050,'' said McCarthy, who is leading White House
efforts to develop U.S. climate commitments for 2030.
Bloomberg, 79, was even more blunt: 2050 "is a good number for people who
give speeches, but I don't know anyone giving those speeches who's going to be
alive in 2050.''
Some Republican lawmakers call the focus on reducing U.S. emissions
counter-productive, saying Biden's plan would raise energy costs and kill
American jobs while allowing Russia, China and other countries to increase
greenhouse gas emissions.
"The Biden administration will set punishing targets for the United States,
while our adversaries keep the status quo. That won't solve climate change,''
said Sen. Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the top Republican on the Senate Energy
Committee. The United States already leads the world in reducing carbon
emissions, Barrasso said, adding that Biden should try to "make American energy
as clean as we can, as fast as we can, without raising costs for consumers."
Some on the left think Biden is not going far enough.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat who has called for a
massive Green New Deal, said Biden deserves "a lot of credit" for his
infrastructure plan's vision and scope, but said it falls far short of what is
needed to meaningfully combat the climate crisis. She and her supporters are
calling for at least $10 trillion in federal spending over the next decade to
address climate change and other problems.
McCarthy disputed the notion that Biden has backtracked from campaign
promises to lead on climate.
"We're always either doing too little or too much,'' she told reporters
earlier this month. "But rest assured that the president put a (spending)
number out here that he felt was not just defensible but required to meet this
moment in time.''
Much of the proposed spending to address climate change is included in
Biden's $2.3 trillion infrastructure bill.
If Republicans think less money should be spent on clean energy and
infrastructure, McCarthy added, "then we'll have those conversations."
Marcella Burke, a former Trump administration official who now is an energy
lawyer in Houston, gives Biden an "A-Plus for enthusiasm" on climate, but an
incomplete on details. "We've had a lot of goals, but not a lot of strategy
announced to get there,'' she said. "So the jury is still out.''
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