WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden gathered world leaders on Friday to privately urge them to commit to deep carbon emissions cuts before the upcoming United Nations climate summit.
Like the climate summit the White House held earlier this year, this gathering of world leaders was virtual. In his remarks to the Major Economies Forum, the president called on the leaders of countries that are the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases to act with urgency and to join a “global methane pledge.” Brokered by the United States and Europe, the agreement would require countries to cut their methane emissions by at least a third below 2020 levels by the end of this decade.
“Without adequate commitments from every nation in this room, the goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees slips through our hands,” Biden said. “And that’s a disaster.”
