Editor's Note: This is an ongoing story and details will be added as and when it is made available.
On Earth Day, 22 April, the US President Joe Biden has decided to host a meeting with the world's leaders titled the 'Leaders Summit on Climate'. It is a two-day conference and has been in the works since he took office on 20 January. Many say that this summit is a precursor to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) that will take place later this year in Glasglow. This is supposed to "galvanise efforts by the major economies to tackle the climate crisis" and "underscore the urgency – and the economic benefits – of stronger climate action."
Watch it online
The Leaders Summit on Climate is a two-day event that will begin on 22 April and end on 23 April. It will be a virtual event owing to the pandemic making travel impossible. The event will be streamed online and available for the public to watch. However, no time or website has been provided as yet.
Summit Objectives
Biden has urged the other leaders to use this summit as an opportunity to release their countries climate ambition and how they will take action to reduce emissions. The US is also expected to announce its ambitious 2030 emissions target as its new Nationally Determined Contribution under the Paris Agreement.
The main objectives of this summit are:
- Get the world's major economies to reduce emission in this decade while also getting the public and private sector involvement.
- Show how climate action can have economic and social benefits. Build new businesses and industries.
- Using the technology available to adapt to climate change but also reduce emissions. Use nature-based solutions to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
- Protect lives and livelihoods by finding ways to adapt to climate change.
The US also want to "reconvene the US-led Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate" that was started by former President Barack Obama in March 2009. It is a forum that gets together the 17 major economies that are responsible for approximately 80 percent of global emissions as well as global GDP. They are:
- Australia
- Brazil
- Canada
- China
- the European Union
- France
- Germany
- India
- Indonesia
- Italy
- Japan
- Korea
- Mexico
- Russia
- South Africa
- the United Kingdom
- the United States
Who is attending?
The world's top five highest emitters are China, The United States, India, Russia and Japan. Biden has invited a total of 40 national leaders to attend this two-day virtual climate summit. Recently, China, UK, Canada and Russia have accepted the invitations and announced that they will attend this summit online. However, the final list of attendees who have accepted this invitation and will be attending the Summit is yet to be announced.
The list of invitees are:
- Prime Minister Gaston Browne, Antigua and Barbuda
- President Alberto Fernandez, Argentina
- Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Australia
- Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh
- Prime Minister Lotay Tshering, Bhutan
- President Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil
- Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Canada
- President Sebastián Piñera, Chile
- President Xi Jinping, People’s Republic of China
- President Iván Duque Márquez, Colombia
- President Félix Tshisekedi, Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Denmark
- President Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission
- President Charles Michel, European Council
- President Emmanuel Macron, France
- President Ali Bongo Ondimba, Gabon
- Chancellor Angela Merkel, Germany
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India
- President Joko Widodo, Indonesia
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel
- Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Italy
- Prime Minister Andrew Holness, Jamaica
- Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Japan
- President Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya
- President David Kabua, Republic of the Marshall Islands
- President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Mexico
- Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand
- President Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria
- Prime Minister Erna Solberg, Norway
- President Andrzej Duda, Poland
- President Moon Jae-in, Republic of Korea
- President Vladimir Putin, The Russian Federation
- King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
- Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Singapore
- President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa
- Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Spain
- President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey
- President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, United Arab Emirates
- Prime Minister Boris Johnson, United Kingdom
- President Nguyễn Phú Trọng, Vietnam
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