Biden pledges to cut US emissions 50% by 2030

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US President Joe Biden announced Thursday a pledge to cut US greenhouse gas emissions in half before the end of the decade. Biden, who is attempting to reassert the US as a leader in combating climate change, made the announcement ahead of a two-day virtual climate summit with 40 other world leaders including China’s Xi Jinping. It starts Thursday.

The 50% target, which marks a dramatic turnabout from the Trump administration’s climate policies, would nearly double the nation’s previous commitment. It would require massive changes to the power and transportation sectors among other sweeping investments in renewable energy technologies.

The Biden administration is working to regain international credibility on environmental issues after Trump pulled the US out of the Paris climate agreement. Since taking office, Biden has recommitted the US to the Paris agreement. On Thursday, the White House said the emissions pledge “will set America on a path of a net-zero emissions economy by no later than 2050.”

What The World is following

Israeli military officials said a Syrian anti-aircraft missile landed deep inside the country near Israel’s secretive Dimona nuclear reactor on Thursday. The missile — identified as an SA-5 surface-to-air missile — landed about 19 miles from the nuclear facility and prompted a response from Israel targeting several Syrian missile units. Israeli officials said the country’s anti-missile systems failed to intercept what they describe as an “errant” missile from Syria.

And, India reported a grim record number of COVID-19 infections — over 314,000 in a single day. The spike comes as cases of the coronavirus are overwhelming the country’s hospitals, which are faced with a shortage of beds and oxygen. The 314,835 infections reported by health authorities set a high for the world, surpassing the previous record for daily COVID-19 infections set by the US.

From The World

‘It’s hard to have hope when you haven’t had time to breathe’

Alfreda Daniels Juasemai, a community organizer and co-founder of the Black Immigrant Collective in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, says the Chauvin verdict doesn’t offer much hope.

“I’m not going to lie to you, I don’t see hope,” Juasemai told The World’s Marco Werman. “I see in my generation a continuing fight. The more I think about being hopeful about the system, the more I feel like once that happens, once I feel some sense of hope for this and that the system got this, that I’m going to be too relaxed for a couple hours before something else happens. So, I’m always on edge. I think the hope of dismantling and re-creating the system lies probably with the generation after us.”

Berlin tenants undaunted by recent court ruling that undoes a rent cap

A German court has ruled that a rent freeze introduced by the Berlin state government in 2019 was unconstitutional. Tenants’ organizations in Berlin say they are taking their campaign for a rent cap nationwide.

Bright spot

The lead singer of the Barcelona-based flamenco/hip-hop band, Ojos de Brujo, has gone solo. Marina Abad just goes by “Marinah” now. She’s just released a solo album that embraces her new independence, not just as an artist, but as a woman. The World’s Marco Werman has this track, “Superheroína,”(?) to round out your Thursday morning.

In case you missed it

Listen: The Black Lives Matter movement around the world