President Joe Biden sets new US climate target just weeks before Donald Trump takes office
President Joe Biden has set fresh climate targets for the United States before climate sceptic Donald Trump takes office in January.
Today the outgoing president has unveiled a new goal to slash US emissions of greenhouse gases by 61% from 2005 levels by 2035.
The 10-year plan should generate “more good-paying jobs, more affordable energy, cleaner air, cleaner water, healthier environments for everyone”, President Biden said.
“I’m proud that my administration is carrying out the boldest climate agenda in American history,” he added, citing his Inflation Reduction Act that poured hundreds of billions of dollars into green industries.
Joe Biden has made a last attempt to influence US climate policy on his way out of power. Pic: Reuters
In reality, Donald Trump is expected to undo many green policies intended to tackle climate change when he takes office on 20 January.
But virtually every country in the world is bound by the Paris climate agreement (Mr Trump pulled the US out of the deal in his first term) to publish a new 2035 climate goal by February next year, along with a plan to reach it, known as an NDC (nationally determined contribution).
Most countries – apart from a handful including the UK – are yet to publish their NDCs.
The Biden administration was keen to drive through the US plan before Mr Trump takes office.
President-elect Trump questions well-established climate science and has previously called climate change a “hoax”, though he was less vocal about it this year.
He is expected to ignore climate goals and again pull the US out of the landmark Paris treaty, which President Biden ensured the US rejoined at the start of his term.
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Climate fight ‘bigger than one election’
New target intended as a ‘North Star’
The new target is not legally binding, but President Biden’s team said it would guide states, businesses and organisations continuing with climate action during Mr Trump’s second term.
US climate envoy John Podesta said: “American climate leadership is determined by so much more than whoever sits in the Oval Office”.
He pointed to the fact that during the last Trump presidency, governments, businesses and investors formed the America Is Still In coalition to continue with climate action. Today the group has 5,000 members.
John Podesta at COP29 in Baku this year. Pic: AP
New York governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, said the new goal would “serve as our North Star, guiding us in the years to come and keeping America on track toward a cleaner, safer future”.
However, Gautam Jain, from the Centre for Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, said without new incentives, he was “not sure how much the target would change” among businesses and investors.
Especially as even the current incentives under the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act haven’t been enough to put the US on course to reach its interim 2030 target, he said, while action at state level would have carried on regardless.
But although there “may be no immediate impact”, the target would “lay the groundwork” for the next president in 2029 to quickly resume climate action, he added.
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How has Donald Trump responded?
Karoline Leavitt, a Donald Trump spokeswoman who will become the youngest-ever White House press secretary when he takes office, declined to comment on the target.
But she said during his previous 2016-2020 term, he produced “affordable, reliable energy for consumers along with stable, high-paying jobs for small businesses – all while dropping US carbon emissions to their lowest level in 25 years”.
While emissions did fall during Mr Trump’s first term, the rate of the fall slowed down, and part of the drop was attributed to a recession.
In his second term, Mr Trump will “once again deliver clean air and water for American families while Making America Wealthy Again”, Ms Leavitt added.
US climate action has global ramifications
President Biden’s new plan covers all greenhouse gases from across the US economy, and puts the country on track to reach net zero emissions by 2050, the White House said.
The course the US charts on climate action will have global ramifications. It is the largest historical emitter and second-largest current emitter.
And as it is the world’s richest country, other countries look to it to either set the bar high for others to aim for, or provide cover for them to sit back.
Debbie Weyl, acting US director at the World Resources Institute, said: “The 2035 emissions reduction target is at the lower bound of what the science demands, and yet it is close to the upper bound of what is realistic if nearly every available policy lever were pulled.
“Assertive action by states and cities will be essential to achieving this goal.”
At the COP29 climate summit, the UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer unveiled the UK’s new climate goal to slash emissions by 81% by 2035.
US
Trump ‘very disappointed’ in Russian strikes on Ukraine and calls for Putin to ‘sit down and sign a deal’
Donald Trump has said he’s “very disappointed” with Russia as he continues to push for a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine.
On Saturday, the US president met with Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Vatican for their first face-to-face meeting since their explosive White House summit.
The Ukrainian president said the meeting ahead of Pope Francis’s funeral could end up being “historic.” Hours later, Mr Trump questioned Vladimir Putin’s appetite for peace in a Truth Social post.
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From Saturday: Trump meets Zelenskyy at funeral
Speaking before boarding Air Force One on Sunday, Mr Trump again said the meeting went well, and that the Ukrainian leader was “calmer”.
“I think he understands the picture, I think he wants to make a deal,” he said, before turning to Mr Putin and Russia.
“I want him to stop shooting, sit down and sign a deal,” the US president said, adding he was “very disappointed that they did the bombing of those places (including Kyiv, where nine people were killed in a Russian airstrike on Friday) after discussions”.
However, Mr Trump said he thinks Mr Zelenskyy is ready to give up Crimea, which the Ukrainian leader has repeatedly said he would refuse to do.
He added that “we’ll see what happens in the next few days” and said “don’t talk to me about Crimea, talk to Obama and Biden about Crimea”.
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, while Barack Obama was president.
Meanwhile, US secretary of state Marco Rubio told Sky’s US partner network NBC News that a peace deal to end the war was “closer in general than they’ve been any time in the last three years, but it’s still not there”.
“If this was an easy war to end, it would have been ended by someone else a long time ago,” he added on the Meet the Press show.
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It comes after North Korea confirmed it had deployed troops to fight for Russia, months after Ukraine and Western officials said its forces were in Europe.
State media outlet KCNA reported North Korean soldiers made an “important contribution” to expelling Ukrainian forces from Russian territory, likely to be the Kursk region.
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KCNA said leader Kim Jong Un made the decision to deploy troops to Russia and notified Moscow, and quoted him as saying: “They who fought for justice are all heroes and representatives of the honour of the motherland.”
It also quoted the country’s ruling Workers’ Party as saying the end of the battle to liberate Kursk showed the “highest strategic level of the firm militant friendship” between North Korea and Russia.
Last June, Mr Kim and Mr Putin signed a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty after a state visit – his first to the country in 24 years.
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From June 2024: Putin drives Kim around in luxury limo during state visit
The North Korean leader promised at the time “full support and solidarity to the Russian government, army and people in carrying out the special military operation in Ukraine”.
Virginia Giuffre, who accused Prince Andrew of sexual assault, has died aged 41.
In a statement to Sky’s US partner network NBC News on Friday, her family said she took her own life in the Perth suburb of Neergabby, Australia, where she had been living for several years.
“It is with utterly broken hearts that we announce that Virginia passed away last night at her farm in Western Australia,” her family said.
“She lost her life to suicide, after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking.
“Virginia was a fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse and sex trafficking. She was the light that lifted so many survivors.
“In the end, the toll of abuse is so heavy that it became unbearable for Virginia to handle its weight.”
Pic: AP
Police said emergency services received reports of an unresponsive woman at a property in Neergabby on Friday night.
“Police and St John Western Australia attended and provided emergency first aid. Sadly, the 41-year-old woman was declared deceased at the scene,” a police spokeswoman said.
“The death is being investigated by Major Crime detectives; early indication is the death is not suspicious.”
Sexual assault claims
Prince Andrew has denied all claims of wrongdoing. File pic: Reuters
Ms Giuffre sued the Duke of York for sexual abuse in August 2021, saying Andrew had sex with her when she was 17 and had been trafficked by his friend, the billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The duke has repeatedly denied the claims, and he has not been charged with any criminal offences.
In March 2022, it was announced Ms Giuffre and Andrew had reached an out-of-court settlement – believed to include a “substantial donation to Ms Giuffre’s charity in support of victims’ rights”.
‘An incredible champion’
Sigrid McCawley, Ms Giuffre’s attorney, said in a statement that she “was much more than a client to me; she was a dear friend and an incredible champion for other victims”.
“Her courage pushed me to fight harder, and her strength was awe-inspiring,” she said. “The world has lost an amazing human being today.”
“Rest in peace, my sweet angel,” she added.
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Dini von Mueffling, Ms Giuffre’s representative, also said that “Virginia was one of the most extraordinary human beings I have ever had the honour to know”.
“Deeply loving, wise, and funny, she was a beacon to other survivors and victims,” she added. “She adored her children and many animals.
“She was always more concerned with me than with herself. I will miss her beyond words.
“It was the privilege of a lifetime to represent her.”
Ms Giuffre said at the end of March she had four days to live after a car accident, posting on social media that “I’ve gone into kidney renal failure”. She was discharged from hospital eight days later.
Raised mainly in Florida, she said she was abused by a family friend early in life, which led to her living on the streets at times as a teenager.
She said that in 2000, she met Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite who was convicted in 2021 on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein. Pic: US Department of Justice
Ms Giuffre said Maxwell then introduced her to Epstein and hired her as his masseuse, and said she was sex trafficked and sexually abused by him and associates around the world.
‘A survivor’
After meeting her husband in 2002, while taking massage training in Thailand at what she said was Epstein’s behest, she moved to Australia and had a family.
She founded the sex trafficking victims’ advocacy charity SOAR in 2015, and is quoted on its website as saying: “I do this for victims everywhere.
“I am no longer the young and vulnerable girl who could be bullied. I am now a survivor, and nobody can ever take that away from me.”
:: Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.
Donald Trump has met Volodymyr Zelenskyy ahead of the Pope’s funeral, Vatican sources have told Sky News.
The US and Ukrainian presidents had a “very productive discussion”, according to a White House Official, and have also agreed to hold further talks after the service.
They are among world leaders, including Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron, who are attending the funeral of Pope Francis.
Follow live updates: Zelenskyy among world leaders joining thousands of mourners
There was applause from some of those gathered in St Peter’s Square when the Ukrainian leader walked out.
The former British ambassador to Russia Sir Tony Brenton said the event presents diplomatic opportunities, including the “biggest possible meeting” between Mr Trump and Mr Zelenskyy.
Trump and Zelenskyy meet for first time since Oval Office row. Pic: Reuters
He told Sky News it could mark “an important step” in starting the peace process between Russia and Ukraine, and is their first face-to-face meeting after a very public row between the presidents at the White House in February.
The bilateral meeting comes after Mr Trump’s peace negotiator Steve Witkoff held talks with Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin.
They discussed “the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine”, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
Russia and Ukraine have not held direct talks since the early weeks of the war, which began in February 2022.
Mr Trump has claimed a deal to end the war is “very close” and has urged Mr Zelenskyy to “get it done” in a post on his Truth Social platform.
He has previously warned both sides his administration would walk away from its efforts to achieve a peace if the two sides do not agree a deal soon.
Meanwhile, the Polish Armed Forces said a Russian military helicopter violated its airspace over the Baltic Sea on Friday evening, in a post on X.
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