On 22 April 2021, Earth Day and the first day of his Leaders Summit on Climate, US President Joe Biden pledged to cut US carbon emissions by 50-52% below 2005 levels by the year 2030.

This is a welcome reversal of the horrific denial of climate change by his pathetic predecessor.

According to the Guardian. Bill Hare, of Climate Analytics, one of the partner organisations in Climate Action Tracker, said: “This looks like an historic tipping point. With Biden’s election, China, the US, the EU, Japan, South Korea – two-thirds of the world economy and over 50% of global greenhouse gas emissions – have net zero greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century commitments. These commitments are very close, if not within, 1.5C-consistent pathways for this set of countries and for the first time ever puts the Paris agreement’s 1.5C limit within striking distance.”

However, to be sure of hitting the 1.5C target the US needs to phase-out of fossil fuel light duty vehicle sales, and combined with targeted support for zero emission vehicle infrastructure development, is one of the most effective potential policy options

For more details from Climate Action Tracker about the need to phase out fossil fuel vehicle sales by 2030 see here.