President Biden is expected to pledge this week to cut U.S. carbon emissions by 50 percent by the end of the decade, two people familiar with the plan told the Washington Post on Wednesday.
The administration will likely present the broad goals of the plan before releasing details on how it plans to achieve the cuts in emissions, the people said. It is also possible that the administration will announce a target range for emissions cuts with the higher limit above 50 percent.
A final decision on the target has not been made, the White House told the Post.
“The Biden-Harris administration will do more than any in history to meet our climate crisis,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a closed event in Annapolis, Md., on Monday. “This is already an all-hands-on-deck effort across our government and across our nation. Our future depends on the choices we make today.”
The forthcoming plan is expected to lay out broad emission-reduction goals rather than addressing the detailed trade-offs required to achieve those goals. The plan will draw heavily from Biden’s infrastructure package, which includes generous subsidies for electric vehicles and billions in funding to renovate existing buildings with green energy technology like solar panels.
The reports come before Biden is set to head a virtual summit of over three dozen world leaders on Thursday intended to address climate change. Among the participants will be Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Biden rejoined the Paris climate accords upon assuming office, reversing President Trump’s decision to exit the agreement. The U.S. initially committed to reducing carbon emissions by 26-28 percent when it entered the agreement under President Obama.
Signatories of the agreement commit to reducing carbon emissions, while the agreement also calls for a global market of renewable energy.
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