Biden, world leaders try to hammer out next steps on climate

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER and MATTHEW DALY

Washington (AP) — President Joe Biden tried to hammer retired the world’s adjacent steps against rapidly worsening clime alteration successful a private, virtual league with a tiny radical of different planetary leaders Friday, and announced a caller U.S.-European pledge to chopped climate-wrecking methane leaks.

Ever-grimmer findings from scientists this twelvemonth that the satellite is nearing the constituent wherever the level of clime harm from burning oil, state and ember becomes catastrophic and irreversible “represent a codification reddish for humanity,” Biden said astatine the session’s outset.

“We person to enactment and we person to enactment now,” Biden said, speaking connected a specially erected White House acceptable that showed virtual arrays of star panels successful the inheritance and a partition of different planetary leaders listening connected screens.

Biden cited his trips earlier this period to California, wherever firefighters are battling larger, fiercer and deadlier wildfires astir twelvemonth circular arsenic temperatures emergence and drought worsens, and to the northeastern U.S. and Gulf, wherever Hurricane Ida and its flooding killed scores, arsenic earthy disasters summation successful fig and severity nether clime change.

As Biden spoke Friday, California firefighters were trying to halt fires from reaching past groves of sequoias that are thousands of years aged and the tallness of high-rises. Crews wrapped the trees, including General Sherman, the largest known histrion connected earth, successful aluminum blankets for protection.

Biden evoked the “damage and destruction” helium had seen successful the United States, monolithic flooding successful Europe and different planetary harm from the warming climate.

The Biden medication billed Friday’s gathering arsenic a accidental for immoderate of the satellite leaders to strategize however to execute big, accelerated cuts successful climate-wrecking petroleum and ember emissions. The medication besides is trying to re-establish the United States’ Major Economies Forum — a clime radical acceptable up by President Barack Obama and revived by Biden – arsenic a important forum for planetary clime negotiations.

Friday’s gathering followed a overmuch bigger and splashier virtual White House clime acme successful April that saw scores of heads of governments — representing allies and rivals, and large economies and tiny — making sweeping speeches astir the request for enactment against clime change.

The database provided of Friday’s attendees included lone a twelve leaders: those of Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, the European Commission, the European Council, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United Nations.

China, India and Russia, with the United States, are the nations that emit the astir climate-damaging gases from the accumulation and burning of oil, earthy state and coal.

There was nary connection connected their leaders’ taking part. However, the White House said successful a connection that Biden had directed his clime envoy, John Kerry, to pb a minister-level clime league afterwards with China, Germany, India, and Russia. It gave nary different contiguous details.

Climate advocates person stressed the value of the U.S. coordinating with Europe and Asia for a associated beforehand successful coaxing China, which emits much climate-damaging fumes than the remainder of the developed satellite combined, to determination faster connected cutting its usage of dirty-burning coal-fired powerfulness plants successful particular.

Biden, successful the nationalist opening of the different backstage talks, besides discussed a caller U.S. statement with the European Union aiming astatine cutting the 2 entities’ emissions of methane 30% by the extremity of this decade. Methane is 1 of the astir potent agents of clime damage, gushing up by the ton from countless uncapped lipid and state rigs, leaky earthy state pipelines, and different lipid and state facilities.

Fred Krupp, president of the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund, said cutting methane contamination is the azygous fastest, astir effectual strategy to dilatory the complaint of warming.

A 30% simplification successful methane contamination should beryllium lone “the introduction constituent for this captious conversation. Many countries tin and should purpose adjacent higher,” Krupp said.

The pledge comes arsenic the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is acceptable to suggest stricter rules against methane emissions for the lipid and state sector, arsenic laid retired successful 1 of Biden’s archetypal enforcement orders.

The caller rules, expected successful the adjacent 2 weeks, are apt to beryllium stricter than an Obama-era modular acceptable successful 2016. The Obama modular was reinstated successful June aft Congress took the antithetic measurement of invalidating a Trump-era EPA rollback of methane protections.

The pending EPA regularisation is expected to restrict methane emissions from caller and existing wells, including hundreds of thousands of older wells that are not taxable to national regularisation nether existent law.

Biden has sought to marque the U.S. a person again successful planetary clime efforts aft President Donald Trump removed the U.S. from the Paris clime accord.

At home, however, Biden is inactive striving to get important concern successful climate-friendly measures similar charging stations for electrical vehicles retired of Congress, successful the look of objections from Republicans and immoderate Democrats.

Friday’s league volition beryllium followed by different closed-door league of 35 to 40 satellite leaders, to beryllium hosted Monday greeting by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The backstage sessions are seeking to guarantee planetary leaders travel to a November U.N. clime league with commitments of important caller actions to dilatory clime change. Biden and others measure the U.N. clime acme successful Glasgow arsenic a past accidental for the satellite to perpetrate to cutting usage of fossil fuels accelerated capable to stave disconnected the worse scenarios of planetary warming.

“We person to bring to Glasgow our highest imaginable ambitions,” Biden said. “Those that person not yet done so, clip is moving out.”

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Knickmeyer reported from Oklahoma City.