Companies push Biden for new Paris climate pledge

More than 300 companies and investors are calling on US president Joe Biden to aim for deep reductions in the country's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under the Paris climate agreement.

The companies, including tech giants Apple, Google and Microsoft, and utility companies Pacific Gas & Electric and National Grid, today urged Biden to commit the US to at least a 50pc cut in emissions by 2030, relative to 2005 levels.

The companies say the "bold" pledge is needed to put the country on a path to net-zero emissions by 2050, restore US leadership on climate change and spark additional private sector investment in new technologies.

"If you raise the bar on our national ambition, we will raise our own ambition to move the US forward on this journey," the companies said in an open letter to Biden. "While an effective national climate strategy will require all of us, you alone can set the course by swiftly establishing a bold US 2030 target."

Other signatories include EDF Renewables, Facebook, General Electric, Ikea, LafargeHolcim, Starbucks, Public Service Enterprise Group, Unilever and Verizon.

The companies' plea comes just ahead of a virtual climate summit Biden will host on 22-23 April, where he plans push for more aggressive global action on climate ahead of the UN's COP 26 climate talks to be held in Glasgow, Scotland, in November. The administration is also expected to unveil a new "nationally determined contribution," or emissions pledge under the Paris agreement, just ahead of the event.

The US under former president Barack Obama pledged to cut its GHG emissions by 26-28pc from 2005 levels by 2025 to help achieve the Paris agreement's end goal of keeping global temperatures from rising more than 2°C above pre-industrial levels.

While Biden has backed a goal of net-zero emissions by 2050, administration officials say the US and other countries also need to focus on more aggressive goals well before then to avoid the worst consequences of climate change, with an eye on preventing a more than 1.5°C temperature increase.

"It's not about 2050, it's about what are we going to do in the next decade," White House domestic climate policy advisor Gina McCarthy said today during the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit.

Ahead of next week's virtual climate summit, the Biden administration has been talking to various world leaders to drum up support for greater ambition.

US presidential climate envoy John Kerry met yesterday with Canadian environment minister Jonathan Wilkinson and tomorrow will head to China and South Korea. Last week, he traveled to India and Bangladesh.

The letter was organized and published by sustainable investment advocacy groups Ceres and the We Mean Business coalition.

By Michael Ball