As it happened: New US emissions target hailed a ‘game changer’

Author: Jonathan Josephs

Day One of the White House's Earth Day climate summit has now ended.

Over six sessions, we heard from leaders, officials and activists from more than 40 countries, including top officials in the Biden administration.

Day Two takes place tomorrow, with two final sessions.

Thanks for following our reporting and analysis. Live coverage was brought to you by Marianna Brady, Holly Honderich and Sam Cabral, and edited by Paul Rincon, Helen Briggs and Mark Kinver.

The BBC's Outside Source programme asked three young climate activists about their thoughts on the Leaders Summit. Here's what they said.

Daisy Jeffrey in Australia - part of “Friday’s for Future” campaign

“I would hope to see significantly more pressure put on Australia by this US presidential administration than the last.

“I hope that this summit will see the Australian government bow to political pressure, because at the moment instead of looking to invest in renewables and a renewable future this government is investing in gas and saying that gas is the way forward and that is simply an inaccurate and quite backwards way of thinking.

“We’re tackling climate change abysmally.”

Melissa Kowara in Indonesia - a member of Extinction Rebellion Indonesia

“First of all they have to declare that we have an emergency to begin with, because the level of awareness and the climate literacy is still so slow and this declaration will work as a mandate to all the ministries, all the private entity and the civil society to actually act together.

“What I really want to see is that countries around the world start really looking into tackling the climate crisis issue directly at its roots.”

Thandile Chinyavanhu in South Africa – part of Greenpeace Africa

“It’s very important that our government takes action and deviates away from our fossil fuel addiction.

“I don’t believe South Africa’s ambitions are ambitious enough.”

Critics of climate change proposals often question whether climate advocates are willing to make eco-friendly changes to their personal lives.

Will you stop eating meat? Will you stop riding on airplanes? Will you take shorter baths?

With an Earth Day climate summit hosted by the White House in full swing, those critics turned their eyes to national climate advisor Gina McCarthy and transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, for their choice of transportation to attend an event touting electric vehicles.

Buttigieg has made a show of riding to his meetings on a bicycle, but was also recently pictured taking that bike off the back of an SUV parked a few blocks away.

There has been plenty of reaction coming in to the announcements at the Leaders Summit. Here's a selection of the comments from environmental campaign groups.

Steve Trent, executive director of the Environmental Justice Foundation, said:“We need more ambitious commitments from the big emitters and more binding plans on climate finance, fossil fuel phase outs, and nature restoration which match the urgency of the crisis we face.”

Melita Steele, programme director of Greenpeace Africa, commented:“African leaders must do more than just be at the table of biodiversity and climate summits.

"We need them to be serious about tackling emissions at home and unequivocal about protecting their country’s natural biodiversity in order to tackle a climate crisis which has the continent seeing worse and worse extreme weather impacts every year.”

Catherine Abreu, executive director of Climate Action Network Canada, said:

“[Canada’s] new target is not aligned with a 1.5C compatible future - that would require a 60% emissions reduction goal.

“We hope to see Canada continue to ramp up ambition, both in future years and as NDC consultations occur in coming months on the road to [the COP26 climate meeting in] Glasgow.“

Abby Maxman, chief executive of Oxfam America, described President Biden’s announcement as a “step in the right direction” but added that more action was needed.

“The richest 1% of the world’s population are responsible for more than twice as much carbon pollution as the 3.1 billion people who make up the poorest half of humanity," she said.

“As the world’s richest country and largest historical emitter of greenhouse gases, the US owes it to the world's most vulnerable to increase its emissions reductions target in order to prevent additional climate change impacts."

In a separate breakout session, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is leading officials from around the world in a discussion of nature-based solutions to reduce emissions and strengthen climate resilience.

Nature-based efforts have been proposed around the world to combat climate change, by reducing deforestation and the loss of wetlands, restoring marine and terrestrial ecosystems, and promoting sustainable agricultural practices.

Haaland, the first Native American cabinet secretary in US history, has made restorative justice a key aspect of her climate change goals.

She is moderating a panel that includes environmental ministers from Canada, Costa Rica, Gabon, Indonesia, Peru and the Seychelles, as well as two indigenous activists.

The Biden administration has indicated that climate change will be a key plank of its foreign policy.

His director of national intelligence, Avril Haines, and ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield both argue it requires a diplomatic, economic and militaristic effort, what administration officials refer to as "a whole-of-government effort".

They note the Pentagon has already designated climate change as a national security threat and as a threat multiplier.

In the US, the past year has seen wildfires in California, hurricanes in Louisiana and blackouts in Texas, says Thomas-Greenfield, while the world has seen monsoons, droughts and other disasters.

"It doesn't matter where you live. Climate change is a challenge for every person, in every country," she says.

Only "a multilateral toolkit" can ensure that countries and people do not fight over scare resources as the world gets warmer, she says.

Thomas-Greenfield says real global cooperation can instead bring "shared economic opportunity".

Source: BBC News