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Joe Biden has invited 40 world leaders to a virtual summit on the climate crisis, the White House said in a statement on Friday.
Heads of state, including China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, have been invited to attend the two-day meeting to mark Washington’s return to the front lines in the fight against climate change caused by the man, after Donald Trump withdrew from the process. .
“They know they’re invited,” Biden said of Xi and Putin. “But I haven’t spoken to any of them yet.”
The start of the April 22 summit coincides with Earth Day, and it will precede a major United Nations meeting on the crisis, scheduled for November in Glasgow, Scotland.
Biden’s event is being held entirely online due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The president kept his election promise to join the Paris climate agreement on his first day in the White House, after Trump withdrew from the deal.
The return of the world’s largest economy and second-largest emitter of carbon dioxide went into effect on February 19 and means almost all countries are now parties to the deal signed in 2015.
By the time of the summit, the United States will have announced “an ambitious 2030 emissions target,” according to a White House statement, and will encourage others to step up their own targets under the summit. Paris agreement.
“The summit will also highlight examples of how enhanced climate ambition will create well-paying jobs, advance innovative technologies and help vulnerable countries adapt to climate impacts,” the White House said in a statement. .
The United States has invited leaders of the Forum of Major Economies on Energy and Climate, which includes the 17 countries responsible for around 80% of global emissions and GDP, as well as heads of countries particularly vulnerable to climate impacts or who demonstrate a strong climate. leadership.
The US President has put global warming at the heart of his agenda and has already made waves nationally by pledging to make the energy sector emissions neutral by 2035, followed by the economy as a whole by 2050.
It has also put new oil and gas drilling on federal lands and offshore on hold and is expected to soon seek a $ 2 billion infrastructure package from Congress that would serve as an engine for future economic growth.
Biden dispatched his climate envoy, former Secretary of State John Kerry, to set the stage for the summit in meetings with EU leaders earlier this month.
The meeting comes as the world falls significantly behind in efforts to limit turn-of-the-century warming to 1.5 ° C (2.7 ° F), which scientists believe is necessary to avoid triggering hotspots. climate change that would leave a large part of the planet inhospitable.
In an assessment of commitments made in recent months by around 75 countries and the European Union, UN Climate Change said only about 30% of global emissions were covered by the commitments.
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