Earth Day Summit: Biden opens with pledge to slash US emissions

The Earth Day Summit aims to reassert US leadership on the climate crisis and highlight the economic benefits of tackling global warming.

United States President Joe Biden on Thursday reclaimed global leadership on the climate crisis, kicking off the two-day virtual Earth Day Summit with a pledge to halve US emissions by the end of the decade. “Time is short, but I believe we can do this,” Biden said in his opening remarks. “We will do this.” The new US commitment, announced by the White House on Thursday – marking Earth Day on April 22 – promises to slash the nation’s carbon emissions by at least 50 percent by 2030 based on 2005 levels.