US President Joe Biden has hosted a virtual Leaders’ Summit on Climate featuring some major announcements on climate targets and actions, with 40 leaders taking part. The most striking announcement was the USA committing to reducing net economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 50-52% by 2030 from 2005 (levels were already ~14% below those of 2005 pre-pandemic), but it was only one of several countries to announce to new targets:

• Canada announced a new target of a 40-45% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 from 2005 levels (levels were only ~1% lower in 2019 compared to 2005)
• Japan set a target of reducing emissions 46% by 2030 from 2013 levels, which were the highest ever recorded – for CO₂ – in the country’s history. (In 2019, CO₂  levels were ~15% below 2013 levels.)
• South Korea announced it would set a new 2030 reduction target later this year, and also pledged to end financing for foreign coal-fired power plants, though President Moon Jae-in noted that coal-reliant developing countries “should be given due consideration and access to proper support”.
• A few days prior to the summit, the UK had set in law a requirement to cut emissions 78% by 2035 from 1990 levels (having been 45% below 1990 levels in 2019).
• Also in the lead-up to the summit, the EU had finalised its target of cutting CO₂ emissions 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels (having been 24% lower in 2019 compared to 1990 levels).

Additionally during the summit, China pledged to more strictly control coal-fired power generation projects during the next five-year plan period, starting in 2026. Australia, which currently has a rather unambitious target of a reduction of 26-28% in emissions from 2005 levels by 2030, said that it would “update” its long-term emissions strategy at the COP26 conference in Glasgow in November, though the Australian government did announce AU$275.5 million in funding over the next decade for development for an additional four hydrogen ‘hubs’, and AU$263.7 for carbon capture and storage projects. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison was accidentally muted at the beginning of the summit.

While the Canadian target received domestic criticism for not being ambitious enough, it is arguably the most ambitious, given the country’s pre-pandemic levels relative to 2005. The US target has been received with the most enthusiasm by climate campaigners, probably because of the contrast in perceived intent relative to the previous Trump administration. All the major recent target announcements, however, including those of the UK, Japan and the EU are highly ambitious, given the huge reductions that they entail within only a nine-year period. Should the various countries and areas meet their targets, or even if they make substantial progress towards them, it will mean huge changes to the energy sector, with more deployment of renewables, batteries, nuclear, carbon capture and storage, biomass firing, and use of ammonia and hydrogen, along with a continuing trend away from coal towards natural gas and a renewed focus on energy efficiency. More announcements are sure to come at COP26 in November.