U.S. President Joe Biden attends a CEO Summit on Semiconductor and Supply Chain Resilience via videoconference on April 12, 2021 in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, DC.
Amr Alfiky | Getty Images
More than 300 companies and investors have urged President Joe Biden to nearly double US targets to bring planet-warming emissions below 2005 levels by 2030.
In a letter published on Tuesday, executives from companies such as Google, Apple, Walmart, Unilever and General Electric praised the Biden government for re-entering the global Paris Agreement and aggressively combating climate change.
Pressure from executives from some of the country’s largest companies to set a goal of reducing emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and other gases by at least 50% – a goal that is in line with the wishes of environmental groups – precedes the climate of world leaders Summit hosted by the administration on April 22nd.
The Biden government plans to present a stricter emissions target for the Paris Agreement at or before the summit of world leaders. The Obama administration wanted to cut emissions by up to 28% below 2005 levels by 2025, but former President Donald Trump halted federal efforts to achieve that goal and pulled the US out of the Paris Agreement.
The companies that signed the letter have annual sales of more than $ 3 trillion and assets of more than $ 1 trillion. The letter points to a shift in the private sector to address its own effects of climate change and better align with the goals of the Biden government, which has vowed to put the country on a path to zero carbon by 2050 .
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Biden’s climate efforts, including a full infrastructure package that invests heavily in clean energy technologies, would be largely paid for by increasing corporate tax rates, which could raise objections from some companies that signed the letter.
The president has also promised to introduce new regulations for fossil fuel manufacturers, automobiles and electricity utilities. The signatories to the letter include utilities such as PG&E Corporation and Exelon, but not well-known oil and gas companies.
“Many of us have set or are setting emissions reduction targets in line with climate science since the Paris Agreement was signed,” the company directors wrote in the letter. “The private sector has bought renewable energy at record prices and, along with countless cities across the country, many have committed to a zero-emission, net future.”
Almost every country in the world is part of the Paris Agreement, a non-binding agreement between nearly 200 nations to reduce their emissions to warm the planet. The USA is the second largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world.
