President Joe Biden has promised to slash America's greenhouse gas emissions by 50%-52% by 2030.
According to CNBC News, the POTUS made the pledge in an announcement on Thursday, April 22, in the latest bid by his administration to curtail the effects of climate change.
Biden's announcement came on Earth Day, and more than doubles the country’s prior commitment under the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
Under former president Barack Obama, the United States intended on cutting its emissions 26% to 28% below 2005 levels by 2025.
However, due to a number of key policy reversals made by Biden's predecessor Donald Trump, (including the United States withdrawing from this Paris accords) America is currently not yet halfway to meeting that original goal.
Per CNBC, Biden commented on the pledge in a statement to the press, in which he said:
"This is the decisive decade. This is the decade that we must make decisions to avoid the worst consequences of the climate crisis.
"This is a moral imperative. An economic imperative. A moment of peril, but also a moment of extraordinary possibilities."
Biden will also hold a virtual summit between April 22-23, during which time the POTUS hopes to urge global cooperation to address the issue of global warming by speaking with 40 other world leaders.
As a result of this announcement, several of these world leaders have since praised Biden's commitment to greener American economic policies.
For example, German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated: "I’m delighted to see that the United States is back, is back to work together with us in climate politics."
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed, praising Biden "for returning the United States to the front rank of the fight against climate change."
Johnson added: "It's vital for all of us to show that this is not all about some expensive politically correct, green act of bunny hugging. This is about growth and jobs."
Furthermore, CNBC reports that Biden's emissions pledge will aid decarbonize the country’s energy sector by 2030 forward and will thus put the United States on a path to net-zero emissions by the year 2050.