President Biden is pledging to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by more than 60% by 2035 as he fights to ensure his legacy on slowing global warming, even as President-elect Donald Trump vows to undo much of Biden’s climate work when he takes office next month.
Mr. Biden said the new goal — which supersedes a previous plan to cut carbon emissions at least in half by 2030 — keeps the U.S. on track to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions economy-wide by 2050. The U.S. is making a formal submission of the new target, known as a Nationally Determined Contribution, to the United Nations under terms of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, Biden said Thursday.
The new goal calls for reducing net emissions by 61% to 66% below 2005 levels in 2035.
“I’m proud that my administration is carrying out the boldest climate agenda in American history,’’ Mr. Biden said in a videotaped statement.
“We’re doing it by setting ambitious goals’’ such as deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind and conserving at least 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030, Mr. Biden said. His administration also has set strict new standards to cut air pollution from cars, trucks and power plants and signed into law the most significant investments in climate and clean energy in U.S. history, he said.
The action by the Democratic president comes just over a month before he is set to leave office. Mr. Trump has already promised to unleash a series of executive actions that will seek to undo most or all of Mr. Biden’s climate agenda as the Republican president-elect pushes for “energy dominance” around the globe.
Mr. Trump no longer dismisses climate change as a “hoax” but has pledged to dismantle what he calls Democrats’ “green new scam” in favor of boosting the production of fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas and coal. Mr. Trump is expected to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate accord, as he did during his first term, and will likely move to repeal parts of the landmark Inflation Reduction Act, especially subsidies that benefit electric vehicles and offshore wind.
Biden aides tried to downplay the impact of Mr. Trump’s return to the White House, insisting that states and local governments can continue to lead on clean energy.
“American climate leadership is determined by so much more than whoever sits in the Oval Office,’’ said John Podesta, Biden’s senior adviser for international climate policy.
Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said that in his first term, Mr. Trump “produced affordable, reliable energy for consumers along with stable, high-paying jobs for small businesses — all while dropping U.S. carbon emissions to their lowest level in 25 years. In his second term, President Trump will once again deliver clean air and water for American families while Making America Wealthy Again.”
While carbon emissions dropped around the world in 2020, that was largely due to the economic shutdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The U.S. Climate Alliance, a bipartisan coalition of governors that support climate action, pledged to work toward the new target, with or without help from the White House.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, the alliance’s co-chair, said climate-conscious governors “will carry the torch forward’’ after Biden leaves office.
Mr. Biden’s proposal would require sustained changes across the economy, from power generation to transportation, buildings, agriculture and industry, including significant increases in renewable energy such as wind and solar power and steep cuts in emissions from fossil fuels such as oil and coal.
The U.S. pledge includes methane reductions of at least 35% from 2005 levels by 2035, Mr. Biden said.
• Associated Press writer Seth Borenstein contributed to this story.
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