China, Russia, and India may be reluctant to reengage on US terms at the climate summit. On Thursday, President Joe Biden will try to pull off some diplomatic gymnastics: hosting a Leaders Summit on Climate to convince countries to take bolder action on climate change, while the US is still very much rebuilding its own climate credibility after the Trump years. During his presidency, Donald Trump tore down dozens of environmental regulations and withdrew the US from the Paris climate agreement, undermining global progress to reduce emissions. “[Biden] comes into this summit with the need to repair US credibility after four years of a president who denied the existence of climate change and did everything in his power to undermine the programs in the US that were attempting to reduce emissions,” said John Podesta, the founder of the Center for American Progress and former climate adviser to President Obama, during a press briefing. To show that the US has indeed shifted course, Biden will be releasing a new 2030 climate target ahead of the event, and the administration has pledged that it will be “ambitious.” The summit will be one of the drumbeats crescendoing to the big UN climate conference of the year: COP 26, to be held in Glasgow, Scotland, in November. Under the Paris agreement, all countries are supposed to submit new climate targets before the conference - five years after the first targets were set when the deal was signed. The goal is to collectively put the world on track to prevent a 1.5-degree Celsius rise above pre-industrial levels. The US State Department described the summit as an opportunity for the 40 invited leaders to reveal new targets in line with that goal. Some US allies are expected to do so, while others, including China, Russia, and Brazil, appear reluctant to return to US-centric climate diplomacy or to step up climate action alongside their peers. The pageantry surrounding climate... |