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The Biden administration on Thursday pledged to slash U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by as much as fifty percent before the end of the decade.

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: "The United States isn't waiting. We are resolving to take action."

The new target - cutting emissions by fifty to fifty-two percent of 2005 levels by 2030 - is meant to spur other big carbon emitters to combat climate change.

BIDEN: "The United States sets out on the road to cut our greenhouse gases in half - in half - by the end of this decade."

President Joe Biden unveiled the goal at the start of a two-day climate summit hosted by the United States.

And it signals an American effort to reclaim global leadership in the fight against global warming after former President Donald Trump withdrew from international efforts to cut emissions.

EX-PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP ON NOV. 22, 2020: "I withdrew the United States from the unfair and one-sided Paris climate accord."

BIDEN: "Scientists tell us that this is the decisive decade. This is the decade we must make decisions that will avoid the worst consequences of the climate crisis."

It also marks an important milestone in Biden's broader plan to decarbonize the U.S. economy entirely by 2050. Biden says that effort can create millions of new jobs. But many Republicans say they fear it will damage the economy.

The emissions cuts are expected to come from power plants, automobiles, and other sectors, but the White House did not set individual targets for those industries.