Climate summit eyes on 'existential crisis'

One politician said "the cost of inaction keeps mounting". Another quipped "there's no vaccine against a polluted planet". A young activist bluntly declared "the era of fossil fuels is over".

The telethon-style live-stream at the Earth Day summit echoed one theme. Working together harder to limit the worst effects of climate change.

The two-day virtual summit, hosted by US President Joe Biden, brought together 40 world leaders in an effort to address the "existential crisis" of climate-induced disaster at a time when the world is still wrestling with the debilitating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The signs are unmistakable. The science is undeniable. But the cost of inaction keeps mounting," said Biden, who recommitted the United States to the Paris climate accord three months ago, after his predecessor Donald Trump announced the country's withdrawal soon after taking office in 2017.

At the start of the summit on Thursday, the White House unveiled the goal to cut US emissions up to 52 percent by 2030 compared with 2005 levels. It is a key step by the Biden administration to move toward the ultimate goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Biden's climate envoy John Kerry said later in the day the US will probably exceed that pledge.

Canada also raised its goal for a reduction of up to 45 percent by 2030 below 2005 levels, up from an earlier target of 30 percent. Japan vowed to increase its target to cut emissions to 46 percent by 2030, up from 26 percent.

The targets are formally known as nationally determined contributions, or NDCs, under which governments are required by the 2015 Paris Agreement to commit to increasingly ambitious climate action goals.

Lives of dignity

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for countries to submit ambitious new NDCs, which are their climate plans for the next 10 years, to be backed up with immediate concrete action.

"Let us now mobilize political leadership to move ahead together－to overcome climate change, end our war on nature, and build lives of dignity and prosperity for all,"Guterres said at the virtual summit.

While the US' NDC target is nearly double the pledge made under former president Barack Obama of 26-28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025, there is no guarantee that Biden's climate goals will be realized if another climate change-skeptical president like Donald Trump is elected.

Some researchers said US climate policy has been "unnervingly inconsistent", which means the Biden administration will need to work hard to build trust.

"In the US, climate change remains a partisan issue, with Democratic administrations introducing climate policies, only for these to be slowed down or reversed by Republicans," Antony Froggatt, a senior research fellow with the Chatham House, and his colleague Daniel Quiggin, wrote in an analysis at the end of last month.

This "stop-start approach" to climate mitigation and adaptation reduces the impact of domestic policies and diminishes the effectiveness of the US in the international process, they noted in a paper released by the London-based Royal Institute of International Affairs on March 29.

At the summit, Biden stressed the economic benefits of stronger climate action in the "decisive decade", saying decisions should be made to stave off the worst outcomes by trying to limit planetary warming to 1.5 C.

"Meeting this moment is about more than preserving our planet,"Biden said. "It's about providing a better future for all of us."

Russian President Vladimir Putin also said his country was committed to fulfilling its international obligations to combat climate change.

"Russia is genuinely interested in galvanizing international cooperation so as to look further for effective solutions to climate change as well as to all other vital challenges," he said.

Putin, however, pointed out that "it is no secret that the conditions that facilitated global warming and associated problems go way back".