Sept. 17 (UPI) — President Joe Biden will lead a White House climate summit with other world leaders on Friday in an event aimed at increasing global cooperation against rapidly rising carbon emissions.
The Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate was scheduled to begin at 8:45 a.m. EDT.
Biden is expected to call on the other leaders to sign a “global methane pledge” created by the United States and Europe, agreeing to work collaboratively in reducing emissions by 30% by the end of the 2020s.
Biden has attempted to recruit China and India — two of the world’s most carbon-emitting nations — to join the pledge. So far, those efforts have been unsuccessful.
Friday’s summit will be held virtually.
“Slashing methane emissions is the most important action countries can take to slow global warming in the next few decades,” Nathaniel Keohane, president of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, told The New York Times.
The president’s virtual meeting comes ahead of the United Nations climate summit, COP26, in Glasgow, Scotland, next month — and one day after a landmark U.N. report said global emissions are quickly rising worldwide after a brief respite in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Biden also held a virtual climate summit in April with more than 40 leaders. That meeting was partly aimed at restoring U.S. leadership on climate change after a significant retreat under former President Donald Trump.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, methane is a global warming gas that’s emitted during the production and transport of coal, natural gas and oil. Methane emissions also come from livestock and other agricultural practices, land use and by the decay of organic waste in municipal solid waste landfills.
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