| 2021 Leaders Summit on Climate | |
| Venues: | Virtual |
| Dates: | April 22–23, 2021 |
| Participants: | 38 nations |
The 2021 Leaders' Summit on Climate was a virtual climate summit on April 22–23, 2021, organized by the Joe Biden administration, with leaders from various countries. At the summit Biden announced that greenhouse gas emissions by the United States would be reduced by 50% - 52% relative to the level of 2005 by 2030. Overall, the commitments made at the summit reduce the gap between governments' current pledges and the 1.5 degrees target of the Paris Agreement by 12% - 14%. If the pledges are accomplished, greenhouse gas emissions will fall by 2.6% - 3.7% more in comparison to the pledges before the summit. The results of the summit were described by Climate Action Tracker as a step forward in the fight against climate change.
| Invited countries | Representative[1] | |
|---|---|---|
| President Cyril Ramaphosa | ||
| Chancellor Angela Merkel | ||
| Prime Minister Gaston Browne | ||
| King Salman of Saudi Arabia | ||
| President Alberto Fernández | ||
| Prime Minister Scott Morrison | ||
| Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina | ||
| President Jair Bolsonaro | ||
| Prime Minister Lotay Tshering | ||
| Prime Minister Justin Trudeau | ||
| President Sebastián Piñera | ||
| President Xi Jinping[2] | ||
| President Iván Duque Márquez | ||
| President Moon Jae-in | ||
| Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen | ||
| President Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan | ||
| Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez | ||
| President Emmanuel Macron | ||
| President Ali Bongo Ondimba | ||
| Prime Minister Narendra Modi | ||
| President Joko Widodo | ||
| Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu | ||
| Prime Minister Mario Draghi | ||
| Prime Minister Andrew Holness | ||
| Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga | ||
| President Andrés Manuel López Obrador | ||
| President Muhammadu Buhari | ||
| Prime Minister Erna Solberg | ||
| Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern | ||
| President Andrzej Duda | ||
| President Uhuru Kenyatta | ||
| Prime Minister Boris Johnson | ||
| President David Kabua | ||
| President Félix Tshisekedi | ||
| President Vladimir Putin | ||
| Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong | ||
| President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan | ||
| General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng |
At the summit Biden announced that greenhouse gas emissions by the United States would be reduced by 50% - 52% relative to the level of 2005 by 2030. Overall, the commitments made at the summit reduce the gap between governments' current pledges and the 1.5 degrees target of the Paris Agreement by 12% - 14%. If the pledges are accomplished, greenhouse gas emissions will fall by 2.6% - 3.7% GtCO2e more in comparison to the pledges before the summit. The results of the summit were described by Climate Action Tracker as a step forward in the fight against climate change, even though there is still a long way to go to reach the 1.5 degrees target.[3] The most important commitments were made by United States, United Kingdom, European Union, China and Japan.[3] At the summit the Biden administration submitted a new Nationally Determined Contribution to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), according to Climate Action Tracker "the biggest climate step made by any US government in history".[3]
At the summit Biden's administration launched a number of coalitions and initiatives to limit climate change and help to reduce its impacts, among others a Global Climate Ambition Initiative to help low income countries achieve those targets, and a "Net-Zero Producers Forum, with Canada, Norway, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, together representing 40% of global oil and gas production"[4]
Several countries increased their climate pledges in the summit. Several countries deliver vague promises, and statements:
| Country | Commitments/Statements |
|---|---|
| Pledged to reduce its emissions by 50% - 52% by 2030 relative to the level of 2005. | |
| Pledged to end deforestation by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.[5] Presented an action plan to "move quickly towards reversing deforestation," in 12 months if necessary resources will be given[6] | |
| Pledged to reduce emissions by 46% by 2030 compared to the level of 2013 (instead of 26% before) and achieve net - zero emissions by 2050. | |
| Pledged to reduce emissions by 40% - 45% by 2030 relative to the level of 2005 (instead of 30% before). | |
| Reaffirmed its previous target of installing 450 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2030. With the United States created an "India-U.S. Climate and Clean Energy Agenda Partnership for 2030". | |
| Pledged to reduce significantly its emissions in the next 3 decades, called for a global reduction in methane emissions. | |
| Reaffirmed its pledges to peak its emissions by 2030 and reach carbon neutrality by 2060. Agreed to cooperate with the US in climate issues. Pledged to strictly control its coal burning by 2025 and reduce it from 2026. | |
| Pledged to stop financing coal related projects abroad. | |
| Pledged to reduce emissions by 78% by 2035 | |
| Announced the embedment in law of a target of reducing emissions by at least 55% by 2030 and by 100% by 2050 | |
In the beginning of May, 2021, Climate Action Tracker released a more detailed report about the significance of the summit. According to the report the summit, together with the pledges made from September 2020, reduce the expected rise in temperature by 2100 by 0.2 degrees. If all pledges are fulfilled the temperature will rise by 2.4 °C. However, if the policies will remain as they are now it will rise by 2.9 °C. In the most optimistic scenario, if the countries will fulfill also the pledges that are not part of Paris agreement it will rise by 2.0 °C.[7] [8]
After the summit, there were claims spread that Joe Biden was the only leader there wearing a mask, which was later proved was wrong as at least 5 other world leaders were wearing masks.[9] [10]