(WASHINGTON) — China is rapidly increasing the size of its nuclear arsenal and could have as many as 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030, according to a new Pentagon report released Wednesday.
The development comes on the heels of China’s recent test of a hypersonic weapon that has raised serious concerns about China’s military buildup and its growing capability.
“The accelerating pace of the PRC’s nuclear expansion may enable the PRC (People’s Republic of China) to have up to 700 deliverable nuclear warheads by 2027,” said this year’s version of the annual Pentagon report formally known as “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China.”
“The PRC likely intends to have at least 1,000 warheads by 2030, exceeding the pace and size the DoD projected in 2020,” it added. That increase is dramatically different than was projected in last year’s version of the report which predicted a doubling of China’s current nuclear arsenal of several hundred warheads.
Even with China’s dramatic increase, it’s larger nuclear arsenal will still be much less than the United States’ declared stockpile of 3,750 warheads capable of being deployed by hundreds of land-based and sea-launched missiles and a strategic bomber fleet.
In recent months, the growth of China’s nuclear force has been captured by commercial satellite images showing the construction of hundreds of missile silos at three locations in northern and western China.
“New developments in 2020 further suggest that the PRC intends to increase the peacetime readiness of its nuclear forces by moving to a launch-on-warning (LOW) posture with an expanded silo-based force,” said the report.
China’s leaders have publicly stated that they want China’s military become a global power by 2050 as they move beyond what is currently assessed to be a military force with only regional capabilities.
The report indicated China’s growth of its military capabilities are in line with that plan noting that they “continue to strengthen the PRC’s ability to “fight and win wars” against a “strong enemy” [a likely euphemism for the United States], coerce Taiwan and rival claimants in territorial disputes, counter an intervention by a third party in a conflict along the PRC’s periphery, and project power globally.”
That growing military capability was demonstrated recently after reports emerged that over the summer China had tested a new hypersonic glide weapon capable of orbiting the earth that could eventually carry a nuclear weapon.
The development of a “fractional orbital bombardment system” raised concerns about how the United States could counter such a system that could conceivably travel at hypersonic speeds, or greater than five times the speed of sound, after reentering the atmosphere.
Like other hypersonic vehicles it would be hard to track because the glide vehicles are maneuverable in the atmosphere, unlike ballistic warheads that follow a fixed trajectory, meaning they could weave their way around American radars and ground-based interceptor missile systems.
“The U.S. does not currently have the ability to even track this weapon, much less defeat it,” said Steve Ganyard, a retired Marine colonel and ABC News contributor who noted that American radars pointing to the Cold War threat of missiles coming over the North Pole would not be in a position to detect a hypersonic weapon coming from the south.
Earlier on Wednesday, Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, acknowledged that China’s recent test of an apparent hypersonic weapon capable of delivering a nuclear warhead was “very significant,” but “not a Sputnik moment,” at least in terms of novelty.
That term refers to the 1957 launch of the Sputnik satellite by the Soviet Union that caught Americans off guard and led the United States to play catch up leading to a space and arms race.
“They’re not new, they’ve been around for a while. So, in that limited, narrow sense, it’s not a Sputnik moment, because Sputnik was new at the time,” Milley said in comments at the Aspen Security Forum in Washington, D.C.
Last week, Milley was the first American official to publicly confirm the test labeling it “a very significant technological event” but also said he didn’t know “if it’s quite a Sputnik moment, but I think it’s very close to that.”
Milley described the test as part of the larger trend by China to be a bigger player on the international stage.
“If you look at the totality, this test that occurred a couple weeks ago is only one of a much, much broader picture of a military capability with respect to the Chinese,” said Milley. “That is very, very significant. We’re witnessing, in my view, we’re witnessing one of the largest shifts in global geostrategic power at the world has witnessed.”
Recent flight activity near Taiwan has once again raised concerns about whether China is poising to launch military action against the island it considers to be a breakaway province.
Asked if he believed that China is likely to invade Taiwan, Milley replied, “Based on my analysis of China, I don’t think that is likely in the next near future,” a time period he defined as meaning over the next six to 24 months.
“Having said that, though, the Chinese are clearly and unambiguously building the capability to provide those options to the national leadership if they so choose at some point in the future,” he said.
(WASHINGTON) — Negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program will resume on Nov. 29, Iran’s top negotiator and the European Union’s senior diplomat coordinating previous rounds announced Wednesday.
The announcement comes amid high tensions over Tehran’s growing nuclear stockpile and advancing capabilities, with pressure growing on President Joe Biden to consider a “Plan B.”
If they go ahead as scheduled, the indirect talks will be the first meetings in over five months and the first under the new government of the more hard-line conservative president, Ebrahim Raisi, who was elected in June.
The U.S. and Iran have still not met directly but instead held six previous rounds of negotiations through intermediaries, the remaining parties to the Obama-era nuclear deal — China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom.
While there’s finally a date on the books, critics still contend that Iran is simply buying time as it continues to build out its nuclear program.
Key questions about negotiations remain. In particular, where they will start — from the beginning again, or from where the previous rounds with the last Iranian government left off? And will Iran continue to demand the U.S. acts first by granting sanctions relief — citing former President Donald Trump’s exit from the original agreement?
The Biden administration has said repeatedly it wants a “mutual return to compliance,” in which the U.S. lifts sanctions as Iran scales back the steps it took in violation of the deal. Starting one year after Trump’s exit, Iran began its own violations, such as enriching more uranium to higher levels, using more advanced centrifuges and more of them.
European allies have joined the U.S. in expressing growing concern about those steps and the months of delay since Iran’s presidential election in June.
In a joint statement Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson joined Biden in condemning the “accelerated… pace of provocative nuclear steps” by Iran, including enriching uranium metal and enriching uranium to 60%.
“Iran has no credible civilian need for either measure, but both are important to nuclear weapons programs,” they warned.
But they added they continue to hope for a diplomatic solution, saying, “We are convinced that it is possible to quickly reach and implement an understanding on return to full compliance and to ensure for the long term that Iran’s nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes.”
It’s unclear if Raisi’s government is on the same page. Iran’s new top negotiator, Ali Bagheri Kani, tweeted Wednesday that Iran “agreed to start the negotiations aiming at removal of unlawful & inhumane sanctions” — perhaps a sign that talks will have to start over instead of resume where they left off.
But the State Department was quick to reject that. Spokesperson Ned Price told reporters Wednesday if talks “are to succeed, if we are to close the remaining areas of disagreement, they should start precisely where the sixth round of talks left off… It would be neither productive nor wise to take up from any other position.”
Critics say Iran’s nuclear program is already too far advanced to keep the nuclear deal alive. But Price added again that the Biden administration still believes “there is a window in which we can achieve a mutual return to compliance” — in part, he said, because there’s a “relatively small number of issues that remained outstanding” when talks were last held in June.
The in-person meetings will again be coordinated by the EU’s senior diplomat, Enrique Mora, in Vienna, the Austrian capital. U.S. special envoy for Iran, Rob Malley, will lead the U.S. delegation, according to Price — meeting all the parties except Iran, which refuses to sit down with the Americans.
(GLASGOW, Scotland) — Leaders from nearly every country in the world have converged upon Glasgow, Scotland, for COP26, the United Nations Climate Change Conference that experts are touting as the most important environmental summit in history.
The conference, delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was designed as the check-in for the progress countries are making after entering the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, a value that would be disastrous to exceed, according to climate scientists. More ambitious efforts aim to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Not one country is going into COP26 on track to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement, according to experts. They will need to work together to find collective solutions that will drastically cut down on greenhouse gas emissions.
“We need to move from commitments into action,” Jim Harmon, chairman of the World Resources Institute, told ABC News. “The path to a better future is still possible, but time is running out.”
All eyes will be on the biggest emitters: China, the U.S. and India. While China is responsible for about 26% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, more than all other developed countries combined, the cumulative emissions from the U.S. over the past century are likely twice that of China’s, David Sandalow, a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, told ABC News.
Here’s how the conference is developing. All times Eastern:
Nov 03, 7:33 am
New climate targets announced for sports worldwide
The United Nations has announced a number of ambitious emissions reduction targets as part of its Sports for Climate Action Framework.
The goals include reaching net zero by 2040 and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030.
Organizations such as the International Olympic Committee, FIFA, Athletics Kenya, BBC Sport, the Premier League, Formula E and Munster Rugby have signed up for the new targets.
Moreover, signatories will submit plans on how to implement these targets as well as report on overall progress each year.
“Four years since we launched the Sports for Climate Action Framework, more than 280 sports organizations have committed to the overarching objectives of aligning sport with the goals of the Paris Agreement,” U.N. Climate Change Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa said Wednesday.
Nov 02, 3:59 pm
‘America showed up,’ Biden says of time at summit
Biden said the U.S. was able to make “real progress” at COP26 on methane reduction and reforestation strategies, including convincing countries on “the sideline” to commit to ambitious goals in those arenas as well.
Biden criticized China, the world’s biggest emitter, and Russia for failing to show up in Glasgow.
“The rest of the world is going to look to China and say…are they providing?” Biden said. “And they’ve lost the ability to influence people around the world and all the people here at COP.”
When asked by a reporter how he would respond to “skeptical” and “angry” protesters at the conference, Biden said, “I think anyone who cares about the environment should be worried.”
“There’s a reason for people to be worried,” he said. “I’m worried.”
Biden continued, “But I’m optimistic….what I feel is that the populations of each of our countries have a different perspective that they did at COP25.”
Biden added that people are starting to recognize the disasters that have been exacerbated by climate change, such as deadly flooding from hurricanes and wildfires burning in the western U.S., which has been experiencing a megadrought.
“I think there’s a whole different attitude,” Biden said.
Nov 02, 3:44 pm
Biden, Prince Charles meet at summit
Although not a part of his official schedule, Biden met with Prince Charles at COP26, a senior administration official said.
Biden spoke on the importance of collaboration between the two nations.
“They underlined the need for ambitious commitments and concrete actions among partners worldwide and discussed Prince Charles’ initiatives to engage the private sector on sustainability,” the official said.
Biden thanked the U.K. for hosting COP26 and commended the royal family and Charles’ dedication to environmental activism over the past 50 years.
Nov 02, 3:11 pm
‘No doubt’ progress has been made over past 2 days, Boris Johnson says
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the energy in Glasgow is different than six years ago when the Paris Agreement was signed.
At COP26, world leaders are starting to “tick the boxes” on how to reduce emissions, Johnson said, adding that he now has “no doubt” that progress has been made over the last two days.
“There was no road map, there was no very clear sense of how you could do it,” he said of the Paris Agreement. “I think what you’re starting to see here, in COP26 in Glasgow, is a sense of how actually you can deliver those cuts.”
But the world leaders must also guard against false hope, he added.Johnson said he understands that leaders from developing countries don’t have the same “cautious optimism,” admitting that “in the remaining days of this COP we have a lot more to do.”
(NEW YORK) — The Maldives are well known as a bucket list getaway. Hearing the country’s name conjures up images of luxury huts overlooking an aqua blue ocean. But climate change may cross the country off the map completely.
The archipelago, which is made up of over 1,100 coral islands in the middle of the Indian Ocean, is the lowest lying nation in the world. Therefore, sea level rise caused by global climate change is an existential threat to the island nation. At the current rate of global warming, almost 80% of the Maldives could become uninhabitable by 2050, according to multiple reports from NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey.
“Our islands are slowly being inundated by the sea, one by one,” Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, the president of the Maldives, told the U.N. Climate Change Conference, or COP26, earlier this week. “If we do not reverse this trend, the Maldives will cease to exist by the end of this century.”
The islands that are home to local Maldivians, not the resort islands, stand to lose the most. Mohammed Nasheed, the former president of the Maldives and a leading voice for climate change equity, told ABC News that more than 90% of islands in the Maldives have severe erosion, and 97% of the country no longer has fresh groundwater.
Ibrahim Mubbasir and his family live on the island of Dhiffushi. It is suffering from severe erosion, and flooding has increased from two or three times a year to twice a month. Four years ago, the family’s well became unusable because of salt water contamination, leaving them to rely on collecting rainwater. Mubbasir said they only have enough fresh water to last for three more months.
“Things that we thought would happen towards the end of the century, we are experiencing now,” Aminath Shauna, the Maldives’ minister of environment, climate change and technology, told ABC News’ Ginger Zee.
Shauna said that more than 50% of the national budget is spent on adapting to climate change. When asked what the Maldives will look like in 2050, Shauna responded, “Are you willing to take the Maldives as climate refugees? I think that’s the conversation that needs to happen.”
And it’s not just the Maldives. Island countries around the world have been asking developed nations for funds since 2009. Countries with the highest greenhouse gas emissions — China, the United States and India — are mostly responsible for the rapid sea level rise.
Maldives’ coral reefs
At the center of the Maldives’ culture are their coral reefs.
In 2016, the Maldives lost their front line of defense when a bleaching event affected about 60% of the coral reefs, according to Aya Naseem, a marine biologist and co-founder of the Maldives Coral Institute.
Without coral reefs, the islands are wide open to the rising waters. Naseem said they have one realistic choice: They need to build back and protect the reefs, “because IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) is predicting that by 2050 if the temperature rises 1.5 degrees Celsius we can lose 70 to 90% of corals in the whole world.”
Research has previously shown that a healthy coral reef can absorb 97% of wave energy, dramatically reducing erosion, and it’s affordable, Naseem said.
“It’s much cheaper than building a seawall. I think it costs something like $3,000 to grow a meter of sea wall where for the coral a meter of it is about $300, including monitoring and everything,” she said.
Bebe Ahmed, founder of “Save the Beach,” travels island to island in the Maldives with the mission of teaching kids about restoring and protecting coral. He told ABC News that his dream is to inspire young Maldivians to want to start their own projects to restore coral reefs.
What’s next in the fight?
Technology, like 3D-printed coral structures or a floating city, may have to be part of the solution.
The Maldives is home to the Modular Artificial Reef Structure, or MARS, a coral-forming project on the resort island of Summer Island. to the coral forming project, MARS. The project has 3D-printed bases that are placed in the water with transplant corals attached to them. The hope is that the system is designed with the specific needs of the coral farm in mind, providing a permanent structure for coral to grow.
In the late ’90s, the Maldives began construction on the island of Hulhumale through the process of land reclamation. Hulhumale is 6.5 feet above sea level, more than double the height of Male, the current capital of the Maldives. It is possible this island may be a future site for relocation of Maldivians suffering from sea level rise. Maldivians call their manmade island the City of Hope.
The future of the Maldives could also come in the form of a floating city. In 2022, just a few miles from the dense, capital city of Male, construction and assembly will begin on the world’s first true floating city. The unique solution will not have to worry about sea level rise, because it will always be on top of the sea.
The project is being developed and led by Dutch Docklands in the Netherlands. Lead architect Koen Olthuis gave ABC News an inside look at how the floating city is designed and what it should eventually look like.
The floating city has a unique pattern, modeled after the brain, both human and coral.
The entire city will shift up and down on a pile drilled into the sea floor. It will also take advantage of its environment to better provide for those living on the floating city.
“By being on the water we want to take advantage of the water — and using the coolness of the water — so these are water-cooled cities, for which you take cool water outside the atoll and pump water through the route and activate the air conditioning systems,” Olthius said.
Since the floating city is sustainable and leaves no footprint, Olthuis called the floating cities “scarless” and said they are “renting space from nature.”
(WASHINGTON) — The Biden administration is ending Ethiopia’s special trade status under U.S. law — the latest penalty imposed on the Ethiopian government amid its ongoing war with the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front, the regional force that once controlled the federal government.
The decision, announced Tuesday by the White House, comes amid an expansion in the conflict, which has its anniversary Wednesday. The U.S. special envoy for the Horn of Africa warned it could spill out into a wider civil war, threatening even more suffering for the Ethiopian people and more instability in the region.
To halt that expansion and push both sides to negotiate, the administration has prepared targeted U.S. sanctions against figures on all sides, according to two sources familiar with the plans.
The State Department has also prepared a declaration that the Ethiopian government’s atrocities against Tigrayans constitute a genocide, both sources said, although it’s unclear whether Secretary of State Antony Blinken will sign it and when.
A State Department spokesperson declined to speak to a possible genocide declaration, but told ABC News they are “deeply alarmed by the continuing violence in northern Ethiopia” and “undertaking a review of available facts to assess whether atrocity crimes have been committed.”
Every side in the conflict was been accused of atrocities, including rape and sexual assault, executions, displacement and the destruction of hospitals, farms and food stores.
On Nov. 3, 2020, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched a campaign against Tigrayan forces after weeks of tension over regional elections and years of animosity. The TPLF, the Tigray region’s powerful political party and military force, dominated Ethiopian politics for decades until Abiy’s election in 2018.
Federal troops under Abiy were joined by forces from the neighboring country Eritrea, also long at odds with Tigrayan forces, and the neighboring region Amhara — a regional conflict that soon escalated ethnic tensions across Africa’s second most populous country and among its diaspora around the world.
The Biden administration has tried to use diplomatic tools to ease tensions and urge negotiations, deploying visa restrictions against officials in May and launching a sanctions regime in September without targeting any officials just yet.
While those first sanctions could come soon, it’s the suspension of Ethiopia’s trade status under the African Growth and Opportunity Act on Tuesday that marked a new step. In a message to Congress, President Joe Biden said Ethiopia’s “gross violations of internationally recognized human rights” made it ineligible for AGOA under the law.
The suspension is required under U.S. law, but it is also seen as another warning shot across Abiy’s bow — with a potentially strong economic impact on the country, which exports between $100 million and $200 million to the U.S. each year, according to various estimates.
But it won’t take effect until Jan. 1, 2022, so Ethiopia can still reverse the decision before its implementation, according to Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman, U.S. special envoy for the Horn of Africa.
“It’s not too late to retrace our steps toward the path not taken, but the change in direction must occur in days, not weeks,” he said Tuesday.
Events on the ground, however, show the war is heading in the opposite direction. Abiy’s government declared a national state of emergency Tuesday amid concern that the Tigrayan Defense Forces may move on the capital Addis Ababa after seizing towns just 160 miles to the northeast, according to the Associated Press.
Ethiopia’s Ministry of Trade and Regional Integration criticized the Biden administration’s decision, saying that it was “extremely disappointed” and that the move will “reverse significant economic gains in our country and unfairly impact and harm women and children.”
“We urge the United States to support our ongoing efforts to restore peace and the rule of law — not punish our people for confronting an insurgent force that is attempting to bring down our democratically elected government,” it added in a statement.
But Feltman made clear the U.S. sees Abiy’s government as part of the problem here, in particular because its “unconscionable” blockade on the Tigray region since June has led to shortages of food, medicine, fuel, and cash. Some 900,000 people are facing famine-like conditions in the region, according to U.S. estimates.
The United Nations has estimated that 2,000 trucks of aid are needed per month to deal with the humanitarian crisis, but just 1,100 trucks have entered in total since the beginning of July — 13% of what’s required — per Feltman.
“Without question, the most serious obstacles are intentional government delays and denials,” he added during remarks at the U.S. Institute of Peace. “This unfortunately suggests an intentional effort by the authorities to deprive Ethiopians who are suffering of life-saving assistance. … No government should be adopting policies or allowing practices that result in mass starvation of its citizens.”
Feltman was also quick, however, to condemn the TPLF, especially for its “unacceptable” offensives into neighboring Afar and Amhara regions that have worsened the humanitarian situation. He urged them not to march on Addis, too.
That delicate balance — calling out each side without appearing to take sides — may have hampered the U.S. response to this fast-evolving conflict. In June, the then-top U.S. diplomat for Africa, Robert Godec, told Congress the State Department was conducting a review for a genocide determination.
“We have this fact and law-based review underway. We have pushed it at a very accelerated pace, and it is far advanced. The Secretary needs to make a decision, and when he’s ready, I’m sure that will happen,” acting Assistant Secretary Godec told the House Foreign Affairs Committee in a statement.
Since then, however, there has been no determination. That’s in part, according to one source, because of U.S. concerns about Tigrayan Defense Forces’ atrocities since it launched counter-offensives in June — and about a perception in Addis that the U.S. supports the group over the federal government.
Feltman declined to speak to a genocide determination Tuesday, but he rejected that perception forcefully.
“This could not be further from the truth. We have consistently condemned the TPLF’s expansion of the war outside Tigray, and we continue to call on the TPLF to withdraw from Afar and Amhara,” he said.
The UN human rights office will issue a joint report with the Ethiopian government’s human rights commission on Wednesday — the only official investigation into possible war crimes that Abiy’s government has allowed, although it has already been accused of trying to limit the report, according to the Associated Press.
Feltman said the U.S. would look to the report as it makes its own determinations about possible war crimes or genocide, adding, “The Ethiopian people who have suffered are going to want to see some kind of justice, some kind of reckoning for the horrors that they’ve been through because of this needless conflict, and we will be looking to encourage the type of accountability and justice that the Ethiopian people have every right to expect.”
He was clearer that the U.S. has sanctions ready to go against figures from each side: “The United States is prepared to pursue the first sanctions… against those fueling this crisis and obstructing humanitarian operations, and we will be targeting all parties implicated,” he said.
To date, the U.S. has only sanctioned Eritrea’s top military official, Gen. Filipos Woldeyohannes, for his forces’ human rights abuses. Feltman said Tuesday Eritrean troops have played an “extremely damaging and destructive role” and are responsible for “some of the absolute worst, most horrifying human rights violations.”
But it’s unclear what kind of impact these diplomatic tools will have on either side. While Feltman said the conflict will end in talks no matter what — and the leaders should spare the Ethiopian people by talking now — it seems clear from the continued blockade and the TPLF offensive that each side still believes they can win a military victory.
(GLASGOW, Scotland) — Leaders from nearly every country in the world have converged upon Glasgow, Scotland, for COP26, the United Nations Climate Change Conference that experts are touting as the most important environmental summit in history.
The conference, delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was designed as the check-in for the progress countries are making after entering the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, a value that would be disastrous to exceed, according to climate scientists. More ambitious efforts aim to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Not one country is going into COP26 on track to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement, according to experts. They will need to work together to find collective solutions that will drastically cut down on greenhouse gas emissions.
“We need to move from commitments into action,” Jim Harmon, chairman of the World Resources Institute, told ABC News. “The path to a better future is still possible, but time is running out.”
All eyes will be on the biggest emitters: China, the U.S. and India. While China is responsible for about 26% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, more than all other developed countries combined, the cumulative emissions from the U.S. over the past century are likely twice that of China’s, David Sandalow, a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, told ABC News.
Here’s how the conference is developing. All times Eastern:
Nov 02, 8:09 am
Putin, Bolsonaro appear virtually at conference
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro made what may be their only appearances at COP26, as neither leader is attending the summit in person.
Russia has pledged to get to net zero by 2060, Putin said, adding that 20% of all forests are located in Russia.
“I am convinced that the conservation of forests and other natural ecosystems is a key component of international efforts to address global warming and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases,” Putin said in a pre-corded video played at an event on protecting forests Tuesday.
Bolsonaro also expressed support for the Glasgow Declaration on Forests, saying he is committed to ending illegal deforestation by 2030.
“Forests are important to me because they cover more than 60% of my country,” Bolsonaro said. “They are a source of health and life and are home to the greatest natural wealth and biodiversity on the planet. We are committed to eliminating illegal deforestation by 2030.”
Pedro Castillo, the president of Peru, spoke about protecting the Peruvian Amazon in pre-recorded remarks.
Nov 02, 8:36 am
Biden, world leaders push to conserve global forests
On his second day at COP26, Biden outlined the United States’ plan to join the world in its mission to reduce deforestation.
“Preserving forests and other ecosystems can and should play an important role in meeting our ambitious climate goals as part of the net-zero emissions strategy we all have,” Biden said.
The plan has four components: to incentivize restoration and conservation, to encourage private sector investment, to increase data collection and accountability and to meet a $9 billion U.S. funding goal through 2030 – subject to approval by Congress.
Biden hopes this plan will restore 200 million hectares of forest and other ecosystems by 2030.
Biden unveiled new rules to reduce emissions of greenhouse gas methane on Tuesday.
The U.S. Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan expands on policies and standards set by the Obama administration that were repealed by former President Donald Trump.
As a part of the plan, the Environmental Protection Agency now requires states to develop methane reduction plans for oil and gas industries, aiming to reduce emissions by 75%. There will new regulations on large transmission lines and at-home pipes to lower the risk of methane leaks. Additionally, the Department of the Interior will work on shuttering abandoned oil and glass wells.
During his speech at COP26, Biden referred to his $1.75 trillion infrastructure bill that is awaiting passage in Congress.
“My ‘Build Back Better’ framework will make historic investments in clean energy,” Biden said. “[It’s] the most significant investment to deal with the climate crisis that any advanced nation has made ever.”
Nov 01, 4:55 pm
Israeli energy minister misses leaders’ summit due to wheelchair inaccessibility
Karine Elharrar-Hartstein, Israel’s national infrastructures, energy and water resources minister, was not able to attend COP26’s leaders’ summit because the venue was not handicap accessible.
Elharrar, who uses a wheelchair, tweeted she was disappointed with the United Nations, which she said promotes accessibility for people with disabilities, but in 2021, does not provide accessibility to all of its events.
UK Ambassador to Israel Neil Wigan denounced Elharrar-Hartstein’s treatment at COP26.
“I am disturbed to hear the @KElharrar was unable to attend meetings at #COP26,” Wigan tweeted. “I apologise deeply and sincerely to the Minister. We want a COP Summit that is welcoming and inclusive to everyone.”
(GLASGOW, U.K.) — Leaders from nearly every country in the world have converged upon Glasgow, Scotland, for COP26, the United Nations Climate Change Conference that experts are touting as the most important environmental summit in history.
The conference, delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was designed as the check-in for the progress countries are making after entering the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, a value that would be disastrous to exceed, according to climate scientists. More ambitious efforts aim to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Not one country is going into COP26 on track to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement, according to experts. They will need to work together to find collective solutions that will drastically cut down on greenhouse gas emissions.
“We need to move from commitments into action,” Jim Harmon, chairman of the World Resources Institute, told ABC News. “The path to a better future is still possible, but time is running out.”
All eyes will be on the biggest emitters: China, the U.S. and India. While China is responsible for about 26% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, more than all other developed countries combined, the cumulative emissions from the U.S. over the past century are likely twice that of China’s, David Sandalow, a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, told ABC News.
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Here’s how the conference is developing. All times Eastern.
Nov 01, 4:55 pm
Israeli energy minister misses leaders’ summit due to wheelchair inaccessibility
Karine Elharrar-Hartstein, Israel’s national infrastructures, energy and water resources minister, was not able to attend COP26’s leaders’ summit because the venue was not handicap accessible.
Elharrar, who uses a wheelchair, tweeted she was disappointed with the United Nations, which she said promotes accessibility for people with disabilities, but in 2021, does not provide accessibility to all of its events.
UK Ambassador to Israel Neil Wigan denounced Elharrar-Hartstein’s treatment at COP26.
“I am disturbed to hear the @KElharrar was unable to attend meetings at #COP26,” Wigan tweeted. “I apologise deeply and sincerely to the Minister. We want a COP Summit that is welcoming and inclusive to everyone.”
ABC News’ Oren Oppenheim contributed to this report
Nov 01, 2:22 pm
Prime Minister Modi announces India’s net-zero plan for 2070
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the country will reach net-zero emissions by 2070, one of five pledges he made during his remarks at the COP26 leaders summit.
Modi said India will commit to increasing non-fossil fuel energy capacity, fulfilling 50% of its energy needs with renewable energy, reducing carbon emissions by 1 million tons and reducing the carbon intensity of its economy by 2030.
“These five elixirs will be an unprecedented contribution from India toward climate action,” Modi said.
India has been one of the countries under pressure to update its commitments to the Paris Agreement, especially because of the country’s heavy reliance on coal. India contributes around 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Modi is scheduled to announce a global clean energy initiative with Boris Johnson and Biden tomorrow.
ABC News’ Stephanie Ebbs
Nov 01, 2:17 pm
President Xi Jinping sends written statement to COP26
Chinese President Xi Jinping, whose absence at COP26 was expected, delivered a written statement to the World Leaders Summer earlier today.
In his statement, Jinping said that China, the world’s top emitter, will speed up its transition to green and low-carbon, renewable energy sources.
Jinping emphasized the need for cooperation between developed and developing countries, saying, “Developed countries should not only do more themselves, but should also provide support to help developing countries do better.”
Nov 01, 1:39 pm
Biden meets leaders from Indonesia, Estonia
President Joe Biden met with Indonesian President Joko Widodo, exchanging general pleasantries and discussing next year’s G20 summit, which will be held in Bali, Indonesia.
Widodo congratulated Biden on his January 2020 victory, to which he replied, “Thank you very much. Thank you for recognizing it.”
Although not a part of his official COP26 schedule, Biden also met with Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas.
Estonia was one of the last G20 countries to sign on to the agreement, along with Ireland and Hungary.
According to a readout sent by the White House, the leaders spoke about the cooperation between the two countries on climate and defense.
Biden “conveyed his support for Prime Minister Kallas’ efforts to promote trusted connectivity and high-standards infrastructure investment in Europe and around the world,” the readout said.
(GLASGOW, U.K.) — As the leaders of the world gather in Glasgow to discuss the fate of the climate crisis, the power to save the planet from destruction caused by humans does not only lie in the hands of those in power.
While the majority of reductions in greenhouse gases will need to be accomplished by transformation in policy and industry, individual actions can also help prevent further warming, according to the experts.
“As individuals, we have to pursue collective action to actually move the needle on this,” Jason Smerdon, a climate scientists for Columbia University’s Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, told ABC News.
This is what individuals can do to help slow down climate change, according to experts:
Discuss climate change at the dinner table
Recent polling shows that global warming is “one of those controversial subjects that don’t get discussed at the dinner table,” but according to Smerdon, that is a mistake.
“People often say that you shouldn’t talk about religion or politics at the dinner table … and that’s a significant disadvantage,” he said. “People need to be discussing what it means for us individually, what it means for our communities, the regions where we live.”
Smerdon encourages people who are educated and worried about the issue to talk to their loved ones and inner circles about what climate change would mean for them.
Continue to talk about climate change to transform the culture and “mobilize at the scale we need,” Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, a marine biologist, environmental policy expert and founder of the Urban Ocean Lab, a think tank for urban coastal cities, told ABC News.
Use the power of the vote
It’s up to the voter to put politicians in place to implement solutions already available, such as renewable energy, restoring ecosystems, practicing regenerative farming and making transportation greener, according to the experts.
Actions taken during the Trump administration, such as the decision to roll back dozens of environmental protections and remove the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, as well as holding the Biden administration accountable on their promises, illustrate why it is so important to vote in every single election, Johnson said.
Lawmakers will need to address the structural deficiencies and ensure that climate legislation is passed and implemented swiftly, Smerdon said.
“The biggest, the most important things with regard to addressing climate change are addressing so many of the threats to our democracy that are unfolding currently in the United State,” Smerdon said, adding that gerrymandering, the filibuster, the strong money lobby within politics and voter disenfranchisement are all “real, serious impediments to passing climate change legislation.”
Carefully select who to do business with
A relative few number of companies are responsible for an overwhelming percentage of the world’s industrial greenhouse gas emissions, why it’s important for consumers to know where they are putting their money, activists say.
Just 100 companies worldwide are responsible for 71% of the world’s industrial greenhouse gas emissions since 1988, according to a report by the non-profit Carbon Disclosure Project, published in 2017.
It is important to “look at the institutions that are financing and expanding and digging us more deeply in this climate hole,” Lindsey Allen, executive director of the non-profit Rainforest Action Network, told ABC News.
Individuals should think about where their money “sleeps at night” and remove it from the banks they believe do not have a commitment to the climate fight, Allen said.
“I think there really is an opportunity if consumers engage with their dollars and vote with their wallets to really increase the ambition of financial institutions with what the climate crisis demands,” she said.
In addition, donate time or spare cash to organizations dedicated to the fight against climate change, Johnson said.
Eat sustainably
On of the easiest thing individuals can do in their daily lives to make an impact in the climate fight is simple switches to their diets, according to experts.
Individuals do not need to become a vegetarian or give up animal products altogether to reduce the carbon footprint of their meals.
“We’re not turning them into vegans,” Marty Heller, senior research specialist at the University of Michigan’s Center for Sustainable Systems, told ABC News. “We’re just saying, hey, eat something that is an average [carbon] footprint.”
The easiest way to make a meal more sustainable is to eat less meat and more organic, plant-based foods — the closer they were grown, the better, according to the experts.
Meat consumption is the largest culprit of greenhouse gas emissions in American diets. Individuals should cut back on beef consumption, which has a “monumental” carbon footprint compared to any other meat, Smerdon said.
Individuals should also choose foods that are grown regeneratively, which restores carbon to the soil, “where it belongs” and plant trees and grow their own food, even if with just a small plot of land, Johnson said.
We can no longer wait on large changes from the federal government
Individuals will find more success addressing the impacts of climate change on their local communities rather than wait on the federal government to pass sweeping legislation, Smerdon said.
Climate change is already here and impacted communities, as seen in the recent superstorms to hit the South and the wildfires burning in the drought-ridden West.
“So we have to engage locally,” he said. “We have to engage our local networks, our local institutions, our local decision makers, to think about the impacts of climate change in our communities and make our communities more resilient and interconnected.”
‘Individual efforts only go so far’
While there are several things people can do to reduce their carbon footprint, there are more reasons why placing the burden on individuals is “simply not enough,” Smerdon said.
The guilt that people associate with the their carbon footprint and the carbon footprint of others is not actually helping to slow down global warming, he added.
“And when people start to feel guilty about what they are doing or not doing, it can lead to a sense of paralysis and a feeling of guilt that’s not productive,” Smerdon said.
Smerdon gave an example of the pandemic, and how it stalled the transportation sector across the globe in 2020.
“Despite all of the individual sacrifices that we made — staying in our homes or apartments, not traveling, not going out much at all — that made a very minimal dent in the overall emissions,” he said. “And so that really indicates that these are systemic characteristics of how we do business, how we create energy on the planet.”
(AMBOVOMBE, Madagascar) — “Kere” is a word that echoes around southern Madagascar. It means hunger, and the people here know it all too well.
For the past four years, the lack of food has become a constant in their lives.
But unlike other countries, where extreme hunger and near-famine conditions are caused by war, conflict, or isolated weather events, in this part of Madagascar, the cause is so far unique: southern Madagascar is on the verge of becoming the world’s first climate-change induced near-famine in modern history.
Arduino Mangoni, the deputy country director of the World Food Programme in Madagascar, told ABC News he had “never seen people, especially children, in this situation that we’re seeing here.”
“I have seen people eating cactus leaves, insects, and surviving upon nothing, and the lack of water is probably the most striking element,” he said.
“World News Tonight” anchor David Muir and his team traveled to Madagascar to report on the worsening situation, as aid organizations and the Malagasy government rush to fill in the gaps of food and water in this region.
Southern Madagascar is experiencing its worst drought in 40 years, making the land here too arid to farm and leading to crop failure. For the past four years, the severe lack of rain has led to depleted food sources and dried-up rivers. Climate change has also led to sandstorms affecting these lands, covering formerly arable land and rendering it infertile.
“As they cannot plant, it’s affecting their food security,” Patrick Vercammen, the World Food Programme’s emergency coordinator here, told Muir during a visit to Akanka Fokotany, an affected village. “Having sandstorms in this kind of landscape is not something usual and having the effects of sandstorms shows that nature is changing, the environment is changing, and the climate change is affecting this area more than the rest of Madagascar.”
The situation has led to widespread malnutrition affecting more than 1 million people, and pockets of what the United Nations classifies “catastrophic” food insecurity signaling deepening hunger.
Madagascar has produced 0.01 percent of the world’s annual carbon emissions in the last eight decades, but it is suffering some of the worst effects.
“It is not fair…these people have not contributed to climate change because they do not have electricity, they do not have cars etc., and they’re paying probably the highest price in terms of the consequences of climate change,” Mangoni said.
The children are the most affected, with at least half a million kids under the age of five expected to be acutely malnourished, according to the World Food Programme and UNICEF.
In fact, the agencies say about 110,000 children are already in severe condition, suffering irreversible damage to their growth.
As the country enters the lean season – that dangerous time during which people wait for the next successful harvest — the need to provide food to those at risk of starvation has become more urgent. Aid workers warning that, without action, they could run out of food resources by the end of the year.
The World Food Programme is working together with the Malagasy government to alleviate some of the most acute needs in this region; prevent and treat children experiencing malnutrition; and build infrastructure and knowledge to make the population of southern Madagascar more resilient in the face of drought. They’re supporting more than 700,000 people in dire need, and the need is expected to grow.
(NEW YORK) — Leaders from nearly every country in the world have converged upon Glasgow, Scotland, for COP26, the United Nations Climate Change Conference that experts are touting as the most important environmental summit in history.
The conference, delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was designed as the check-in for the progress countries are making after entering the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, a value that would be disastrous to exceed, according to climate scientists. More ambitious efforts aim to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Not one country is going into COP26 on track to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement, according to experts. They will need to work together to find collective solutions that will drastically cut down on greenhouse gas emissions.
“We need to move from commitments into action,” Jim Harmon, chairman of the World Resources Institute, told ABC News. “The path to a better future is still possible, but time is running out.”
All eyes will be on the biggest emitters: China, the U.S. and India. While China is responsible for about 26% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, more than all other developed countries combined, the cumulative emissions from the U.S. over the past century are likely twice that of China’s, David Sandalow, a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, told ABC News.
Latest headlines:
Nov 01, 1:39 pm
Biden meets leaders from Indonesia, Estonia
President Joe Biden met with Indonesian President Joko Widodo, exchanging general pleasantries and discussing next year’s G20 summit, which will be held in Bali, Indonesia.
Widodo congratulated Biden on his January 2020 victory, to which he replied, “Thank you very much. Thank you for recognizing it.”
Although not a part of his official COP26 schedule, Biden also met with Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas.
Estonia was one of the last G20 countries to sign on to the agreement, along with Ireland and Hungary.
According to a readout sent by the White House, the leaders spoke about the cooperation between the two countries on climate and defense.
Biden “conveyed his support for Prime Minister Kallas’ efforts to promote trusted connectivity and high-standards infrastructure investment in Europe and around the world,” the readout said.
-ABC News’ Molly Nagle and Sarah Kolinovsky
Nov 01, 1:33 pm
‘It’ll take trillions,’ Jeff Bezos says of his $10 billion climate pledge
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos may be donating $10 billion to aid the global climate fight, but the second richest man in the world acknowledged that it will take much more to slow down global warming.
When asked by ABC News’ Maggie Rulli whether $10 billion will “make a dent in climate change,” Bezos replied, “It’ll take trillions of dollars to make a dent in climate change.”
“And it’s gonna take nation states, it’s gonna take companies, and it’ll take NGOs and nonprofits as well,” Bezos said. “What philanthropic dollars can do is move very quickly. There’s things we can do.”
In February 2020, Bezos announced his $10 billion pledge to climate change but updated that commitment in March to say he would spend the $10 billion by 2030.
-ABC News’ Stephanie Ebbs, Bruno Roeber and Maggie Rulli
Nov 01, 1:23 pm
US submits long-term strategy to UN
The U.S. submitted a revised strategy to the United Nations that lays out how the nation will meet its climate goals
Officials have submitted two documents to the UN that are part of updating its commitments to the Paris Agreement. This is the first time the U.S. has updated these submissions to the UN since 2016.
The country’s path to net zero by 2050 requires “transformative actions” this decade, according to the report. The transition will rely on five key areas: Decarbonizing electricity and installing more wind and solar energy; switching to cleaner fuels and electrifying wherever possible, like in transportation and buildings; cutting energy waste and moving to energy sources that can fill the same energy demand more efficiently; reducing methane and other types of emissions that cause even more warming than carbon dioxide; and scaling up carbon dioxide removal technology.
“Near-term actions to accelerate this transition are being implemented rapidly, rooted in actions from across the federal government and other governmental and non-governmental actors in the United States,” the long-term strategy states.
-ABC News’ Stephanie Ebbs
Nov 01, 12:54 pm
Biden apologizes for Trump administration pulling out of the Paris Agreement
President Joe Biden apologized to fellow world leaders at COP26 for the decision made by his predecessor to pull out of the Paris Agreement.
Following his planned remarks at the summit, he made unscripted remarks at a smaller session hosted by U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, where he offered a candid apology for the lack of leadership from the U.S. in the climate fight.
“I guess I shouldn’t apologize, but I do apologize for the fact the United States, the last administration, pulled out of the Paris Accord and put us sort of behind on the eight ball,” Biden said.
Biden was forthcoming with world leaders that he will need to convince Congress to approve additional funding to help nations around the world fight climate change.
In June 2017, then-President Donald Trump announced plans to withdraw from the agreement claiming that could be economically detrimental and cost 2.5 million Americans their jobs by 2025.
The withdrawal became official on Nov. 4, one day after Election Day.
Re-entering the Paris Accord was among the first actions Biden took upon swearing in as president on Inauguration Day on Jan. 20.
-ABC News’ Molly Nagle and Sarah Kolinovsky
Nov 01, 12:36 pm
Bloomberg pledges $10 million to ‘America is All In’
Mike Bloomberg, a member of the UN Special Envoy, and Gina McCarthy, the White House’s national climate adviser, were some of the guests that joined the Biden administration on stage for the launch of the U.S. Center, a public diplomacy initiative, at COP26.
Highlighting the goal to cut emissions by 50% in nine years by 2030, Bloomberg said the world can’t set goals for 2050, a year “which, I at age 79, am not likely to see.”
Bloomberg announced Bloomberg Philanthropies’ intention to close a quarter of all the world’s existing coal plants and cancel all proposed new coal plants by 2025. He also committed $10 million to the “America is All In” coalition to mobilize climate action.
“Of course, now that we have a strong partner in the White House, we can raise the bar higher, we can do more and we can do it faster,” Bloomberg said. “What we can’t do is sit back and wait for Congress to act.”
Nov 01, 11:51 am
Biden emphasizes urgency to fight climate change: ‘The science is clear’
President Joe Biden addressed leaders at the COP26 conference, declaring that countries need to act and act now.
“It’s simple,” the president said. “Will we act? Will we do what is necessary? Will we seize the enormous opportunity before us? Will we, or will we condemn future generations to suffer?”
The upcoming decade will determine whether collective transformative action around the globe will be enough to curb global warming, Biden said.
“We only have a brief window left before us to raise our ambitions,” Biden said, adding that the time frame is “rapidly narrowing.”
The effects of the pandemic made “painfully clear” that “no nation can wall itself from borderless threats,” Biden said, adding that no one can escape the worse consequences of climate change.
But it is in the self-interest of every country to create green energy and healthier ecosystems for the planet, he said.
“We’re standing at an inflection point in world history,” Biden said.
Biden stated that the U.S. will be able to meet its ambitious target to reduce emissions by 50% to 52% by 2030 but called on the rest of the world to do the same.
“We can do this, so let’s get to work,” the president said.
Nov 01, 10:48 am
Greta Thunberg leads demonstrations in Glasgow
Youth climate activist Greta Thunberg has been making has been making her way around the COP26 summit.
Thunberg was seen meeting with Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and also took part in a student-led climate demonstration, leading the rally near the COP26 venue.
Nov 01, 9:38 am
David Attenborough calls for a new industrial revolution of sustainable innovation
British natural historian and broadcaster Sir David Frederick Attenborough told leaders at COP26 that we should be motivated by hope rather than fear.
Humanity can “turn this tragedy into a triumph,” Attenborough said.
“We are after all the greatest problem solvers to have ever existed on Earth,” he said. “We now understand this problem and know how to stop this number rising and put it in reverse.”
He pointed to world leaders in the room, saying, “That desperate hope is why the world is looking to you and why you are here.”
-ABC News’ Stephanie Ebbs
Nov 01, 9:29 am
‘Time has run out’: Prince Charles addresses COP26
In lieu of Queen Elizabeth II, who canceled her COP26 appearance due to health risks, Prince Charles gave a speech during the conference’s opening session.
Addressing the global leaders in attendance, Charles said, “I know you all carry a heavy burden on your shoulders and you do not need me to tell you that the eyes and hopes of the world are upon you.”
Charles highlighted the importance of collaboration and pleaded with world leaders to come together to fight climate change.
“There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the private sector is ready to play its part and to work with government to find a way forward,” he said.
Nov 01, 9:08 am
COP26 opening ceremony commences
After a quick greeting with Biden, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson kickstarted COP26 with opening remarks.
Johnson said that while the average age of leaders in the room was over 60, the results of the COP26 conference will be judged by the young people outside and children who are not yet born.
“If we fail they will not forgive us. They will know that Glasgow was the historic turning point when history failed to turn,” Johnson said.
U.N. Secretary-General Anthony Guterres echoed the need for urgency in his remarks, highlighting the need to mitigate and reduce global emissions by 45% by 2030.
“Enough of treating nature like a toilet,” Guterres said. “Enough of burning and drilling and mining our way deeper. We are digging our own graves.”
ABC News’ Stephanie Ebbs contributed to this report.
Nov 01, 8:54 am
Seen at COP26: Summit provides reusable coffee cups, water bottles to attendees
Organizers of COP26, the most crucial climate conference, have gone the extra mile and placed carts for the its reusable coffee and tea cups around the venue.
Nov 01, 8:37 am
China’s President Xi will not attend
The president of the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions will not be present at COP26.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has not left the country since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and will be absent from the conference. He will instead send the country’s influential climate envoy Xie Zhenhua, according to reports.
Nov 01, 7:58 am
Harris, Granholm to announce $199 million stimulus to reduce car, truck emissions
Vice President Kamala Harris and U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm will announce the U.S. Department of Energy’s $199 million funding package for projects to reduce emissions from cars and trucks today.
The money will fund 25 projects which aim to lower carbon emissions through alternative-fuel technologies, the electrification of long-haul trucks and the improvement of electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
“This investment and the innovations that come from it will help shape our clean energy future and strengthen domestic manufacturing that support good-paying careers for hardworking Americans,” Granholm said in a statement.
The funding is split between the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s ongoing SuperTruck Initiative and the Low Greenhouse Gas funding selections.
According to the press release, carbon pollution from transportation accounts for nearly 29% of all U.S. emissions, more than any other single sector.
Nov 01, 7:31 am
Biden arrives in Scotland for conference
President Joe Biden has landed in Edinburgh, Scotland, ahead of the COP26 summit.
Air Force One landed just before 7 a.m. ET. Biden traveled to the United Kingdom after attending mass in Rome Monday morning at the Villa Taverna in observance of All Saints Day.
The president did not take any questions after he arrived but chatted briefly with the greeters before getting in his motorcade.
-ABC News’ Molly Nagle
Nov 01, 7:13 am
US on ‘strong footing’ going into COP26, White House officials say
President Biden is entering the COP26 summit on “strong footing” due to his unprecedented efforts on climate change, including the Build Back Better framework that marks the largest investment in climate policy in history, said White House National Climate adviser Gina McCarthy told reporters on Monday.
“This is a message you’re going to see from the president over the next two days and from dozens of Cabinet officials will be in Glasgow over the next two weeks,” McCarthy said. “The United States is back at the table. We’re back hoping to rally the world to tackle the climate crisis. And we’re going to bring back jobs and economic prosperity to our workers in our families in the United States.”
On Monday, the U.S. will release its long-term strategy report that details how the country will achieve net zero emissions by 2050. The report illustrates the actions needed — including decarbonizing the power sector, electrifying transportation and buildings, transforming industry reducing non-CO2 emissions and reinvigorating natural lands — to reach carbon neutrality within the next three decades.
The release of the report is part of a deal the U.S. made with China, McCarthy said.
