‘Decisive decade’ for mitigating climate change

The world is in a “decisive decade” for dealing with climate change, US president Joe Biden has told a Leaders Summit on Climate, promising the US will reduce carbon emissions by 50-52% below 2005 levels by 2030.

The move is described by UK prime minister Boris Johnson as “game-changing”, but few among the 40 global leaders at the global summit – including Australia, New Zealand, China and India – provided new commitments.

Japan, South Korea, Britain, the European Union and Canada were among those to announce tougher climate change measures.

More may be announced at COP26 in Glasgow when world leaders meet again in November.

As well as re-joining the Paris climate accord and organising the summit, the Biden team has announced a raft of measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including transitioning transport to electric and providing EV charging infrastructure.