US President Joe Biden has invited 40 world leaders including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a virtual leaders summit on climate scheduled for next month. The leaders’ summit on climate will underscore the urgency – and the economic benefits – of stronger climate action, according to a statement by the White House on Friday. The two-day summit will be held from April 22 to 23.
It will be a key milestone on the road to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) this November in Glasgow. Biden has invited 40 leaders of the summit including, besides Modi, other leaders invited for the summit include Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Saudi Arabia King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. In his invitation, the President urged leaders to use the summit as an opportunity to outline how their countries will contribute to stronger climate ambition, according to the White House statement. The summit will also highlight examples of how enhanced climate ambition will create good paying jobs, advance innovative technologies and help vulnerable countries adapt to climate impacts, it added.
By the time of the summit, the United States will announce an ambitious 2030 emissions target as its new Nationally Determined Contribution under the Paris Agreement, the White House said.
