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The president should commit to cutting U.S. emissions at least 50 percent below 2005 levels by 2030

Science has a stark message for us all. In this decade, we could lose the fight for the Paris Agreement climate goals, with profound consequences for life on Earth, now and in the future. On our current emissions trajectory—with global heat-trapping emissions continuing to rise except for a brief dip due to last year’s economic crisis—we’re at grave risk of doing so. Global average temperatures keep increasing too, with 2020 ending the hottest decade on record. It’s time we own the gravity of the science, recognize that this is a fight for our collective future, and make the only moral choice: break with the fossil-fueled past and go all-in for a clean energy future.

After promising to be guided by climate science and quickly rejoining the Paris Agreement, President Biden must now lead the United States to go big on climate action. He just announced a major domestic infrastructure plan, which includes significant clean energy and climate resilience investments. He will soon host an Earth Day Summit, where key world leaders will be pressed to make new, enhanced commitments—so-called nationally determined contributions (NDCs)—to reduce their global warming emissions. The U.S. NDC—slated to be announced by the summit—must be ambitious.

More than 1,500 scientists and experts have sent President Biden a letter, calling on him to commit to cutting U.S. heat-trapping emissions at least 50 percent below 2005 levels by 2030, as part of the nation’s contribution to meeting the Paris Agreement goals. It’s a feasible and necessary goal—and only the floor for U.S. ambition. The scientific evidence and global equity arguments for the United States to go further by making deeper, swifter cuts in emissions are clear and compelling. Securing an ambitious...