Dec. 19 (UPI) — The Biden administration announced on Thursday formally submitted new goals on reducing emissions to the United Nations just under a month before President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in.
The new targets aim to reduce U.S. emissions by 61% to 66% relative to 2005 levels by 2035, along with reaching net zero by 2050, senior administration officials said on a press call.
“The U.S. strategy is manifest in the investments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act and in a complementary architecture of federal standards that spur demand generate the regulatory certainty needed to accelerate the capital formation and encourage entrepreneurial risk-taking,” White House National Climate Adviser Ali Zaidi said.
“Catalyzed by these incentives, fiscal and regulatory, our partners have come together to swing the fences in every sector of the economy. Looking for wins everywhere — power and transportation, building and industry, lands and agriculture — gives us a better shot at striking the landing and at delivering for everyone.”
The update on the country’s emissions cuts, formally known as the Nationally Determined Contributions, is updated every five years under the Paris Agreement, which requires countries to set their own goals to reduce greenhouse gases.
The Paris Agreement, signed by nearly 200 countries, sought to create a global response to climate change by getting countries to cut greenhouse gases to limit the planet’s warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Trump pulled the United States out of the Paris Agreement during his first term in office, only to see President Joe Biden return the country to the agreement in his term. It is expected that Trump will once again pull the United States out once he takes office in January.