Kerry vows 'strong' US climate action

The United States will soon make ambitious new commitments to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, US climate envoy John Kerry said Wednesday.

"In a few weeks at our summit the president will annonce our NDC which will be strong," Kerry said at a Paris meeting organised by the International Energy Agency.

Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) are the measures that countries plan to meet the 2015 Paris Agreement's goal of limiting the increase in global temperatures to around 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Kerry said that the US would take action to accelerate its reduction of emissions instead of making promises.

President Joe Biden "will announce several trillions of dollars of investments, we're going to build up our grid, we're going to reduce our emissions, we're going to step up in a very significant way so it's not talk by the United States," said Kerry, a former US secretary of state.

Biden has announced plans to hold a climate summit on Earth Day on April 22.

His predecessor Donald Trump took the United States out of the Paris Agreement, but Biden immediately rejoined on taking office.

The United States, the world's top economy, is the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases which cause global warming.

"The United States is really anxious to get this done, and to collaborate to help bring finance to the table, to help with the transition technologically, work in partnerships all across the world," Kerry said.

The Paris Agreement left countries in charge of making their own promises and measurements of their emission reductions, but requires them to regularly revise their NDCs to achieve the 1.5 degree target.

Kerry urged countries to step up their commitments as the pledges made at Paris will likely lead to a 4 degree rise in global temperatures.

The next major UN climate summit, COP26, will be held in Glasgow in November.

While a number of countries have announced plans to achieve carbon neutrality by mid-century, the COP 26 head Alok Sharma said "we must do much more now to turn remote targets into immediate actions."

"We simply cannot afford another decade of deliberations," he added.

He cited the need to abandon coal as a source of electricity production, develop zero-emission cars and combat deforestation.

"We call on all countries to commit to a net zero world," he added.

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