Biden to Slash U.S. Fossil Fuel Emissions 52 Percent by 2030

Jason R. Sakurai
by Jason R. Sakurai


Today President Joe Biden committed to cutting U.S. fossil fuel emissions up to 52 percent by 2030. His statement came during a virtual climate change summit with 40 world leaders.

Presidents Xi Jinping of China and Vladimir Putin of Russia both committed to working on cutting emissions. In a call to action, Biden said, “The signs are unmistakable. The science is undeniable. The cost of inaction keeps mounting.”

The Biden administration’s return to global climate efforts marked a sharp departure from withdrawal under former President Trump.

First, the Biden plan calls for the U.S. to embrace clean energy, and renovate our electrical grid. Next, we would create batteries for use at home and abroad, and last, we would give up oil and gas exploration and coal mining. Japan announced a 46 percent emissions reduction as its goal. South Korea, not to be left out, said it would stop public financing of new coal-fired power plants. Climate advocacy groups are hoping these proclamations will reduce China and Japan’s use of coal.

Despite technical glitches during the opening of the virtual summit, it did attract many of the world’s most powerful leaders. The pandemic made gathering world leaders too risky. The coronavirus continues to hamper efforts to have meaningful, spontaneous conversations and negotiations. The summit did fulfill Biden’s campaign promise to confront climate change head-on. Biden’s $2 trillion package includes revamping our transportation system, electrical grid, and infrastructure.

China, which discharges more emissions than any other country, said in its opening statement, “To protect the environment is to protect productivity, and to boost the environment is to boost productivity. It’s as simple as that.”

Putin made no mention of his disagreements with Biden, when he said, “Russia is genuinely interested in galvanizing international cooperation so as to look further for effective solutions to climate change as well as to all other vital challenges.” Russia is said to be the fourth-largest emitter of fossil fuel fumes.

The Biden plan would be the U.S.’ most aggressive climate effort ever, even more so than Obama administration reductions in the 2015 Paris climate accord. German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed the U.S. back into the accord after Trump pulled out, boosted oil and gas production, and disregarded the science underlying climate warnings.

[Image: Stratos Brilakis/Shutterstock.com]


Jason R. Sakurai
Jason R. Sakurai

With a father who owned a dealership, I literally grew up in the business. After college, I worked for GM, Nissan and Mazda, writing articles for automotive enthusiast magazines as a side gig. I discovered you could make a living selling ad space at Four Wheeler magazine, before I moved on to selling TV for the National Hot Rod Association. After that, I started Roadhouse, a marketing, advertising and PR firm dedicated to the automotive, outdoor/apparel, and entertainment industries. Through the years, I continued writing, shooting, and editing. It keep things interesting.

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  • JEFFSHADOW JEFFSHADOW on Apr 26, 2021

    Biden won fairly and by the same landslide as the Orange Baboon did in 2016. In the last twenty years when a Republican "won" the presidency, it was never by the actual popular vote; in 2000 it was simply given to him by the Supreme Court. I am fine with Socialist Capitalism and equality for all. And anyone thinking the drumpf was a manager, please keep in mind his six bankruptcies and immoral "values". Good riddance to four years of rule by the fat burger king. Now we just need to wait for him to croak. The sooner the better for faux news. . .

    • See 3 previous
    • Slavuta Slavuta on Apr 29, 2021

      @Lou_BC you mean, "certified". In 1960 we already had this. Back then it was also certified but everyone knew it was bogus.

  • ToolGuy ToolGuy on Apr 30, 2021

    This thread will never make it to 300 comments.

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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