United States President Joe Biden is hosting a meeting of the world’s leaders Earth Day titled the “Leaders Summit on Climate.” The climate summit is the first such global event in his Administration devoted to the stewardship of the environment.
The a two-day conference has been planned by the new American President since he took office in January. Taking advantage of the ease of hosting conferences online, the event will be streamed online to everyone all over the world who would like to watch the proceedings.
The United Nations Climate Change Conference (“COP26”) will also take place later in 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland.
Its organizers say that it is meant to “galvanize efforts by the major economies to tackle the climate crisis” as well as “underscore the urgency – and the economic benefits – of stronger climate action.”
The conference’s events will begin at 8:00 AM EST and go on until 1:30 pm EST on Thursday and Friday.
President Biden has stated that he would like other world leaders to use the summit as an opportunity to release their countries climate plans and state how they will take action to reduce their emissions.
The United States is also expected to announce its 2030 emissions targets as part of its new Nationally Determined Contribution under the conditions of the Paris Agreement, which it recently rejoined.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken addressed the virtual assembly in remarks at the opening of the conference.
“As President Biden and Vice President Harris have made clear, this administration intends to do more than any in U.S. history to meet the climate crisis,” he said. “What the United States can do at home can make a significant contribution toward keeping the Earth’s warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. That’s why we’re raising our ambitions, as the President described, and we will meet the new targets we set.
“The consequences of falling short are clear. Every one of our countries is already experiencing the impact of climate change, and they’ll only get worse: more frequent and more intense storms, longer dry spells, bigger floods, more people displaced, more pollution, higher health costs. And climate change can drive the spread of disease, food insecurity, mass migration, and conflict.
“As we take concrete actions to reduce emissions and prepare for the unavoidable impacts of climate change, we have an opportunity – an opportunity to create sustainable, good paying jobs to promote not only greater growth, but greater equity and to provide sustainable, reliable, affordable access to energy to more people, which is crucial to every aspect of human development. So we’re rooting for every country, every business, every community around the world to succeed in this effort.
“In that spirit, as other countries strive to meet and raise their climate targets, the United States will mobilize resources, institutional knowledge, and technical expertise from across our government, the private sector, civil society, and research universities to help. We want every country here to know: We want to work with you to save our planet, and we’re all committed to finding every possible avenue of cooperation on climate.”
Main objectives of the Leaders Climate Summit
– To get the world’s major economies to reduce emission in this decade while also getting the public and private sector involvement.
– To show how climate action can have economic and social benefits. Build new businesses and industries.
– To begin using the technology available to adapt to climate change but also reduce emissions. The use of nature-based solutions to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
– To protect lives and livelihoods all around the world by finding ways to adapt to climate change.
US officials have also stated that they want reconvene the US-led “Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate,” which was launched by former President Barack Obama in March of 2009. That forum that gathered together authorities from the 17 major world economies that are responsible for approximately 80 percent of global emissions as well as global GDP.
Those countries include the following:
Australia
Brazil
Canada
China
the European Union
France
Germany
India
Indonesia
Italy
Japan
Korea
Mexico
Russia
South Africa
the United Kingdom
the United States
Who is attending the climate summit?
The world’s top five highest emitters are China, The United States, India, Russia and Japan. Biden has invited a total of 40 national leaders to attend this two-day virtual climate summit.
Recently, India, China, UK, Canada and Russia have accepted the invitations and announced that they will attend this summit online.
However, the final list of attendees who have accepted this invitation and will be attending the Summit is yet to be announced.
The list of invitees to the Climate Summit are:
Prime Minister Gaston Browne, Antigua and Barbuda
President Alberto Fernandez, Argentina
Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Australia
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh
Prime Minister Lotay Tshering, Bhutan
President Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Canada
President Sebastián Piñera, Chile
President Xi Jinping, People’s Republic of China
President Iván Duque Márquez, Colombia
President Félix Tshisekedi, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Denmark
President Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission
President Charles Michel, European Council
President Emmanuel Macron, France
President Ali Bongo Ondimba, Gabon
Chancellor Angela Merkel, Germany
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India
President Joko Widodo, Indonesia
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel
Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Italy
Prime Minister Andrew Holness, Jamaica
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Japan
President Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya
President David Kabua, Republic of the Marshall Islands
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Mexico
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand
President Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria
Prime Minister Erna Solberg, Norway
President Andrzej Duda, Poland
President Moon Jae-in, Republic of Korea
President Vladimir Putin, The Russian Federation
King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Singapore
President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Spain
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey
President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, United Arab Emirates
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, United Kingdom
President Nguyễn Phú Trọng, Vietnam
You can watch the live proceedings of the Summit here:
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