SHARM EL SHEIKH, Nov 11 (Agencies): US President Joe Biden told the COP27 conference Friday the "very life of the planet" is at stake in the climate crisis and gave an assurance the United States is on track to slash carbon emissions.
"The climate crisis is about human security, economic security, environmental security, national security and and the very life of the planet," he told an audience at the conference in Egypt.
Biden said the United States is "on track" to achieve its pledge of cutting emissions 50-52 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.
"The United States will meet our emissions targets," he said.
Biden arrived at UN climate talks in Egypt on Friday armed with major domestic achievements against global warming but under pressure to do more for countries reeling from natural disasters.
Another report adds: Biden's administration plans to toughen a crackdown on oil and gas industry methane leaks as part of a "relentless focus" on preventing planet-warming emissions, officials said on Friday at the COP27 climate talks.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it will expand its 2021 methane rule so that it requires drillers to find and plug leaks at all of the country's well sites, and not just the biggest ones, defying months of lobbying from drillers.
White House National Climate Adviser Ali Zaidi, speaking at the conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, said the planned crackdown on methane, which is among the most powerful greenhouse gases, was part of the Biden administration's "relentless focus on making sure we root out emissions everywhere we can find them."
The oil and gas industry is a large source of methane, which tends to leak into the atmosphere undetected from drill sites, gas pipelines and other equipment.
The EPA last year announced a proposal to address the problem by requiring oil and gas operators to monitor 300,000 of its biggest well sites quarterly to find and fix leaks.
