For the first time in six years, the US has pledged to contribute $1 billion to the UN’s flagship climate fund.
President Joe Biden made the pledge on Thursday while presiding over a virtual summit of world leaders to encourage high-level leadership to keep global warming to 1.5C.
The move was part of a broader call to action to the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate, a group of more than 20 high-emitting industrialized and developing countries that account for over 80% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.
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For the Amazon Fund to stop deforestation by 2030, Biden said he would ask Congress for an additional $500 million over five years.
He also promised to raise $200 million from public, private, and philanthropic sources to reduce methane emissions in underdeveloped nations and urged countries to expand carbon capture and removal technologies.
The US president urged world leaders to sign on to a collective commitment that by 2030, at least 30% of medium- and heavy-duty cars sold worldwide will be zero-emission vehicles.
Story was adapted from Climate Home News
