Biden Pledges To Cut U.S. Emissions In Half By 2030 At Earth Day Summit

President Joe Biden spoke at the international Earth Day summit Thursday reaffirming that America “has resolved to take action” against climate change. Biden announced that the United States is now committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 and urged world leaders to make similar goals.

“The signs are unmistakable, the science is undeniable and the cost of inaction keeps mounting,” Biden said at the virtual summit. “The countries that take decisive actions now will be the ones that reap the clean energy benefits of the boom that’s coming.”

Biden’s pledge was matched by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who reminded the summit of a prior pledge to install 450 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity by 2030. “We in India are doing our part,” Modi said in his address to the summit. “Despite our development challenges we have taken many bold steps.”

Thursday’s Earth Day summit was the first of its kind, attended by several prominent leaders. Beyond Biden and Modi, Xi Jinping of China, Justin Trudeau of Canada, Angela Merkel of Germany, and Vladimir Putin of Russia all made appearance, and similar climate change commitments during the summit.