WATCH: Biden’s Climate Summit Shows U.S. Leadership Has Far to Go | Top News

(Apr. 23) President Joe Biden convened world leaders for a two-day virtual climate summit on Thursday to send a message that the U.S. is back and ready to lead. Many of the 40 heads of state who participated had their own message for America: Prove it.

Biden opened the event by promising to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% below the 2005 levels by 2030, a clear demonstration that climate is at the center of his agenda. That he did so in front of presidents, prime ministers, and a king shows the White House has the influence to draw world leaders together.

The summit was also meant to demonstrate a vast difference with former President Donald Trump, who pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement and systematically rejected the threat of climate change. Perhaps the biggest departure came when Biden reappeared to promise a doubling of the U.S. spending towards international climate goals. Annual spending will rise to $5.7 billion by 2024—assuming he can get Congress to go along. Even that, however, may not have been enough to change minds.

It’s a sign of how far expectations on climate have shifted in the months since President Trump that these commitments—once unthinkably bold for the U.S.—fell flat with some, particularly leaders of countries most at risk from climate change. Indonesia, for instance, faces devastating flooding in its capital city; its president, Joko Widodo, said that developing nations could consider tightening their emissions targets only if wealthy countries committed to more aid. President Xi Jinping of China also drew attention to the notion of “common but differentiated responsibilities” included in the 2015 Paris climate agreement, which put a greater financial burden on the countries most responsible for global warming.

The summit will play very differently inside and outside the U.S., said David Victor, a climate policy expert at University of California at San Diego. Biden is fighting a two-front battle, working to drum up support at home for tough policies and prove to the world he’ll get them. “If you’re back, you need to show that you're back,” he said. “This event was designed to do that, and they did it.”

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