Earth Day summit a step towards restoring US climate credibility

Gathering is an important opportunity to signal US commitment and resolve to sceptical leaders

On the eve of the virtual Earth Day Climate Summit on 22 April, to be hosted by President Joe Biden, there is rising concern the US will not be able to encourage many other countries to significantly ramp up their 2030 emission reduction targets, although stalwart allies such as Canada, Japan and South Korea are likely to be exceptions. This may be due to America’s loss of credibility on the climate-change front, following four years of backsliding by the Trump administration. To ascertain the importance of the Earth Day Climate Summit, as well as the state of US climate credibility, Transition Economist interviewed Gabriel Collins, the Baker Botts fellow in energy and environmental regulato