China, India, Russia, and Japan, among the world’s largest emitters, must “really step up” and begin to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate Change John Kerry, who also urged all nations to increase their ambition in the fight against climate change.
Kerry joined UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for a virtual event on Friday to commemorate the United States’ re-entry into the Paris Agreement. Government pledges to reduce carbon dioxide and methane emissions are now insufficient, he added, to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels this century.
Kerry went on to remark that the United States was working with some of these developing countries to assist their transition to greener energy sources and cut emissions. He cited US’s backing for India’s renewable energy programs, as well as a joint deal reached last month between the US and China, the world’s largest producer of greenhouse gases, in which Beijing agreed to speed emissions reductions.
Following former President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the global agreement, the US formally re-entered the Paris Climate Agreement under Biden’s administration. The Paris Climate Agreement aims to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Meanwhile, it is noteworthy that according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), India is the third-largest global emitter of carbon dioxide, after China and the US, despite extremely low per capita CO2 emissions. India is behind US and is still being lectured on the issue.
