The Biden administration announced today the release of a new goal to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 61% – 66% by 2035, on a 2005 basis.

While the target comes only weeks before President-elect Donald Trump is set to take office, and is widely to expected to roll back key climate initiatives, Biden administration officials expressed confidence in the U.S.’ ability to achieve the new goal, driven by investments put in place over the past four years, and action at the state, local and private level, even in the absence of a climate focus by the federal government.

A senior Biden administration official said that “the lower end of what we have laid out can largely be carried out without significant additional effort at the federal level.”

The new target is intended to form the basis of the U.S. Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement. NDCs are national climate action plans presented by each country under the agreement, and are required to be updated every five years with increasingly higher ambition. The U.S.’ current NDC, set by the Biden administration in 2021, is to achieve a 50% – 52% reduction in emissions by 2030.

President Biden has made climate action a key focus of his administration, with high profile initiatives including returning the U.S. to the Paris Agreement on his first day in office – after President Trump formally withdrew from the agreement in 2020. The administration’s key climate achievements include the passage of the landmark Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), which combine to include allocations of nearly $500 billion to climate-focused investments in areas including carbon-free energy, manufacturing and clean technologies.

According to senior administration officials, achievement of the new targets would put the U.S. on or ahead of track to reach net zero GHG emissions economy-wide by 2050.

In a press call following the release of the new target, administration officials defended the ability to reach the new goal even in the face of the incoming Trump administration.

John Podesta, Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy, said:

“The Biden-Harris administration may be about to leave office, but we’re confident in America’s ability to rally around this new climate goal, because while the United States federal government under President Trump may put climate action on the back burner, the work to contain climate change is going to continue in the United States with commitment and passion and belief.  That’s not wishful thinking; it’s happened before.”

Officials also pointed out that the U.S. has a track record of reducing emissions even when “when administrations that don’t prioritize climate or clean energy at the federal level are in charge.”

A senior administration official added:

“The next four years will neither pause the impacts of climate change, nor will the next four years pause the continued acceleration in technology improvement and availability across every sector of our economy to decarbonize.”