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President Joe Biden has announced a US target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 61-66% below 2005 levels by 2035, with White House officials saying the new goal can be achieved even if climate-change sceptic Donald Trump tries to roll back the country’s climate-action agenda.
With just a month to go until President-elect Trump takes office, the outgoing administration called its updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement “ambitious and achievable” thanks to federal investments made in the last four years under Biden, including through the Inflation Reduction Act, and policies introduced at state level.
Donald Trump has indicated he may pull the US out of the Paris Agreement again – something he did during his previous term in the White House – and is likely to undo many green policies and encourage more fossil fuel production.
But John Podesta, senior advisor to Biden for international climate policy, told journalists that the “investments under this administration are durable and will continue to pay dividends for our economy and our climate for years to come”.
That is because the strategy has been led by the private sector, which has announced over $450 billion in clean energy investments, he added on a call before the new target was unveiled on Thursday.
“While the United States federal government under President Trump may put climate action on the back burner, the work to contain climate change is going to continue in the United States with commitment and passion and belief,” he said.
The United Nations has asked all countries to submit more ambitious national climate plans by February next year, including 2035 emissions-cutting targets, in an effort to put the world on track to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius as governments agreed to do under the 2015 Paris pact.
State leaders step up
Podesta urged local government officials – including governors and mayors – as well as business leaders to carry climate action forward and “show how many Americans still care about the future of our planet”.
The US is not currently on track to meet its existing goal of slashing greenhouse gas emissions by between 50% and 52% by 2030, according to several independent assessments.
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Announcing the new NDC, White House climate policy official Ali Zaidi said the 2035 target puts the US on a trajectory to reach net zero by 2050, meaning that the country “will do its part to keep [the Paris Agreement goal of] 1.5 degrees alive”.
Rachel Cleetus, policy director and lead economist for the climate and energy programme at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), said that “while falling short of what the science requires”, the 2035 goal and plan to get there provides “an important benchmark to propel further climate action by cities, states, Tribal nations, and businesses”.
Manish Bapna, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a US think-tank, said the new emissions-reduction target can “serve as a North Star” for all those actors that are “ready to accelerate progress outside of Washington”.
Twenty-four state governors united under the “US Climate Alliance” pledged on Thursday to work together to achieve the NDC. Lujan Grisham, the Democratic governor of New Mexico and co-chair of the alliance, said “the only thing clearer than the science and impacts of climate change is the benefit of taking action – and we’re not slowing down”.
A recent study by the University of Maryland’s Center for Global Sustainability indicated that the US could reduce emissions by 54-62% by 2035, relying only on “strong” climate action from non-federal actors.
Senior US administration officials said their own analysis of the potential for clean energy technologies to achieve cost-effective emissions cuts backed this up. But one noted “the higher ends of this [2035] range require the federal government to do what a responsible federal government would do in the face of an existential risk and the biggest economic opportunity the world has ever seen to invest in America”.
‘Drill, baby, drill’
The wider NDC document filed with the UN climate change body on Thursday does not contain any concrete plans to reduce fossil fuel production, while only name-checking the global agreement to “transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems” reached at COP28 in Dubai last year.
In 2023, the US was the world’s largest producer of crude oil and the biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Oil extraction at sunset in an oil field in Midland, Texas. REUTERS/Nick Oxford
After taking office, Donald Trump is expected to spur more oil and gas development.
Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the Trump transition team, told Fox News this week that Trump would issue executive orders “to drill, baby, drill,” and “to expedite permits for drilling and for fracking all over this country” immediately after his inauguration.
The United Arab Emirates and Brazil – among the handful of countries that have announced new NDCs this year – also left out any commitment to cut their oil and gas output, while the UK has set a 2035 target but not yet outlined its plans to reach the goal. The Labour government, which took power in July, has ruled out issuing new oil and gas licences for the North Sea.
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Ashfaq Khalfan, climate justice director at Oxfam America, said the new US NDC “ignores critical targets for phasing out fossil fuel production and fails to commit funds to help disadvantaged communities in the Global South”.
It “represents the bare minimum floor for climate action”, he added.
(Reporting by Matteo Civillini; editing by Megan Rowling)
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President Biden sets US emissions goal for 2035 in the shadow of Trump
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Prepared by a coalition of nine Western Australian union, industry, conservation, and community organisations—including UnionsWA, the Conservation Council WA, and the Smart Energy Council—the WA Clean Energy, Jobs & Industry Plan provides a practical roadmap to transform Western Australia into a clean energy powerhouse while creating thousands of secure local jobs.
Western Australia stands at a pivotal crossroads: lead the global clean energy economy or watch investment, future industries, and secure jobs go elsewhere. The WA Clean Energy, Jobs & Industry Plan outlines a transformative blueprint to harness the state’s world-class solar and wind resources. Discover how legislated renewable targets, green iron manufacturing, and a dedicated regional training strategy can generate tens of thousands of local jobs, lower household bills, and build a resilient, net-zero future for all Western Australians.
WA needs a clear and forward-thinking plan if it is going to become a competitive renewable energy powerhouse and maintain its economic strength through the energy transition.
“Western Australians know a faster renewable energy transition will lower their household expenses and prevent harmful climate pollution. But the community also needs clear direction to ensure this transition will create jobs, lower costs and not cause undue environmental harm.
“Here, sectors representing a broad range of interests have laid the groundwork for those outcomes, clearly outlining what is needed to create a future for WA that is good for the environment, for the climate, for workers and for the economy.
Summary
The WA Clean Energy, Jobs & Industry Plan sets out a strategic roadmap to position Western Australia as a global clean energy superpower while creating thousands of secure local jobs.
The report establishes three overarching goals:
- Creating local employment.
- Maintaining industrial competitiveness.
- Lowering household energy costs
To realize this vision, the framework details actionable measures to follow on from the recent WA Government announcement of a 75% Renewable Energy Target by 2031 for the South West Interconnected System. This includes developing a statewide Renewable Energy Target, coordinating statewide workforce and training pipelines, strategically planning regional infrastructure to safeguard high-value biodiversity and cultural heritage, and ensuring equitable benefit-sharing through household electrification incentives and First Nations equity partnerships. Ultimately, the plan highlights that establishing clear policy and regulatory certainty will unlock lower energy bills, boost power reliability, and secure the state’s global competitiveness in emerging green commodity export markets.
Key Findings
- Statewide Renewable Energy Target and Emissions Reduction Targets: The report calls for a statewide RET and 1.5°C aligned emission reduction targets to remove policy risk, lower capital costs, and attract clean energy investment.
- Transformative Job Creation: Accelerating the transition offers massive employment prospects, including up to 8,800 solar and battery jobs by 2050, as well as 24,000 ongoing and 11,000 construction jobs in a commercial green iron industry.
- Industrial Electrification & Competitiveness: Requiring large gas users to adopt binding electrification timetables and providing concessional financing will protect existing energy-intensive manufacturers from rising energy costs and impending domestic gas shortfalls.
- Green Commodity Export Leadership: Western Australia can build new export markets in green iron, green ammonia, and offshore oil/gas decommissioning by constructing shared common-user infrastructure and setting dedicated Green Commodity Export Targets.
- Coordinated Workforce & Training Pipeline: To address critical skill shortages the plan recommends establishing a WA Clean Energy Jobs Plan 2050, three regional training hubs, and dedicated pathways for female and under-represented apprentices.
- Environmental Safeguards & Community Benefits: Fast-tracked development must be paired with State Planning Policies that avoid high-biodiversity and cultural heritage lands, mandate new data centres to run on additional renewable power, and deliver household electrification rebates and First Nations equity partnerships.
What you can do
WA has an opportunity to lead on sustainable, clean energy and associated industries. You can help by:
- Sending an email to Environment Minister Murray Watt and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, calling on them to reject Browse.
- Sharing this story to help more Australians understand what’s at stake.
- Encouraging your friends and family to take action.
Countries have completed the first “global review” of their progress towards reversing nature loss by 2030 at the COP17 biodiversity talks in Yerevan, Armenia.
The review “notes with deep concern” that, unless action is “rapidly accelerated”, the goal to reverse nature loss and meet a set of 23 targets by 2030 “will not be achieved”.
It “urges” countries to accelerate action, including by “increased ambition in addressing the gaps”.
Much of the discussions in Yerevan focused on how to raise the necessary funds to help developing countries protect nature.
Some major economies pushed to expand the range of nations that are expected to provide finance, with countries agreeing at the end of the two weeks of talks that non-donors that want to contribute can “signal interest” before COP18.
This came after developed countries failed to meet a target to significantly ramp up nature finance over the last few years.
It also came as a landmark fund agreed at COP16 in Colombia to pay communities for the genetic resources derived from nature stands nearly empty two years on.
The Yerevan talks marked the halfway point of the “Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework” (GBF), the “Paris Agreement for nature” first made in 2022 and due to be achieved by 2030.
During the nearly 12-hour-long final plenary, countries voted for Quito, Ecuador, to host the COP18 nature talks, which will be held in 2028.
Countries managed to sign off on all the major negotiation texts, marking a stark contrast to COP16, which ran so far over time that the Colombian presidency lost “quorum”, forcing talks to resume in Rome months later.
Below, Carbon Brief has detailed analysis of all of the key outcomes from COP17.
Formal negotiations
Finance
Finance, predictably, was at the heart of the discord and deadlock at the Yerevan talks.
At COP17, discussions on finance had to achieve several outcomes.
The first part – to take stock of biodiversity finance mobilised so far to meet the nature deal’s goals – fell under the global review.
As the global report noted, developed countries failed to meet their commitments to raise “at least $20bn a year by 2025” for nature. Delegates pointed to falling aid levels and a sharp 27% decline in environmental funding for the 2026-30 period.
The second part was to agree on how to mobilise resources for the next four years, to meet the GBF’s goals and targets.
Calls to “broaden the contributor base” of who pays to protect nature – and whether that should include emerging economies – became the most fraught element of the talks.
Eventually, countries agreed on what Switzerland described as a “super, mega-delicate” text. It hinged on major “political compromises”, with “no major winner or loser”, according to Kenya.
Per the decision, countries that want to be included on a list of developed country donors can “signal interest” through bilateral, confidential consultations before COP18 and every alternate COP after.
Finally, countries also agreed on criteria to shape and resource a new, permanent financial mechanism to protect nature after 2030.
However, this did not immediately take the form of a new fund under the COP that biodiverse countries have demanded since 2022, deferring the mechanism’s institutional structure to COP18.
Resource mobilisation discussions at the GBF’s halfway mark were supposed to agree on how to close the “biodiversity finance gap” and to “increase resources from all sources” to “at least” $200bn per year by 2030, as set out in target 19 of the GBF.
The talks were largely dominated by a push, led by the JUSCANZ bloc of developed countries, to “broaden the contributor base”. This could see emerging economies, such as Qatar, China, Saudi Arabia and India, being added to the list of countries that pay to protect nature.