Published: 11:07, February 24, 2021 | Updated: 00:45, June 5, 2023
Biden: US, Canada to work to achieve net zero emissions by 2050
By Reuters

In this June, 3, 2017 file photo, the sun sets behind Georgia Power's coal-fired Plant Scherer, one of the nation's top carbon dioxide emitters, in Juliette, Georgia. (BRANDEN CAMP / AP)

WASHINGTON - US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that he and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agreed to work toward achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

“We’re launching a high-level, climate-ambition ministerial and to align our policies and our goals to achieve net zero emissions by 2050,” Biden said in a speech following a bilateral meeting with the Canadian leader.

A US official said the US and Canada will “cooperate on policy alignment” and aim to announce new emission reduction targets under the Paris climate agreement for the year 2030 by April 22 - the day that the United States will host a climate leaders summit

US Special Climate Change Envoy John Kerry and his Canadian counterpart, Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, will host the ministerial.

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The partnership comes after Biden revoked a key permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have transported 830,000 barrels a day of carbon-intensive heavy crude from Canada’s Alberta to Nebraska, on his first day in office last month - one amid a flurry of executive orders aimed at curbing climate change.

A US official said the North American neighbors will “cooperate on policy alignment” and aim to announce new emission reduction targets under the Paris climate agreement for the year 2030 by April 22 - the day that the United States will host a climate leaders summit.

The official told reporters that areas of policy alignment “of mutual interest” would include reducing methane in oil and gas operations, transportation and vehicles and climate change resilience.

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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told Reuters earlier this month that the United States is interested in boosting hydro imports. In a separate interview, Environment Minister Wilkinson said combining Canada’s clean energy with US wind, solar and geothermal power was a priority for early talks between the two countries.