The world’s big emitting countries, including China, India, Russia and Japan need to “really step up” and begin to lower greenhouse gas emissions, US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry has said as he called on all nations to raise their ambition to fight against climate change.
Kerry on Friday joined UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for a special virtual event to mark the United States rejoining the Paris Agreement.
“We need the United States and every country to determine they will get on a path toward net-zero emissions by 2050. That is not something we will do by countries just stepping up and saying, ‘Hey! We commit, here we are. Yeah, we’ll do it by 2050”. That doesn’t work. That doesn’t cut it. That is not the way that we get to go to Glasgow,” Kerry said.
The United Kingdom will host the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow in November this year.
The COP26 summit will bring parties together to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Kerry said as nations go to Glasgow, they have to be real about exactly “what we need to do starting now. What steps will we take in the next 10 years? And the truth is that everybody has to do that.
China, which is the largest emitter in the world, needs to be part of the 2020 to 2030 effort”.
“India needs to be part of it. Russia needs to be part of it. Japan, all the big emitting countries of the world, the major emitters, 17 nations need to really step up and begin to lower those emissions,” Kerry said.
This challenge means that all countries, setting bold and achievable targets, have to do so here at home, and in the course of their Declaration of their National Determined Contributions, he said.
Under the Paris climate change agreement signed in 2015, India has committed to cut GHG (Green House Gas) emissions intensity of its GDP by 33-35 per cent, increase non-fossil fuel power capacity to 40 per cent from 28 per cent in 2015, add carbon sink of 2.5-3 billion tonne of CO2 per annum by increasing the forest cover, all by 2030.
The US formally re-entered the Paris Climate Agreement under the Biden administration after former president Donald Trump had withdrawn the country from the global deal which aims to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 Celsius above pre-industrial levels by curbing greenhouse gas emissions.
“The United States is, once again, a party to the Paris Agreement. And I’m proud and pleased with that fact but it also places on us a special responsibility,” Kerry said adding that Washington rejoins the international climate effort with humility and with ambition.
“Humility knowing that we lost four years during which America was absent from the table. And humility in knowing that today no country and no continent is getting the job done.
