The new US president once reigned in immediately reviewed over 100 Trump administration actions and restored the regulation of greenhouse gases and the protection of federal lands. During his first days in office, Joe Biden;
- re-entered the Paris climate agreement;
- revoked the Keystone XL pipeline permit;
- placed a memorandum on new oil and gas drilling on federal lands until a review of all current leases has been conducted;
- dove into reviewing actions that rolled back clean air and water protections;
- instructed the US government to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies;
- vowed to transform the government’s entire fleet of cars and trucks into electric models;
- and pledged to set a new goal of conserving 30% of American land and oceans by 2030.
The sweeping climate directives pave the way for work to come on tackling the climate crisis. Biden believes this plan is urgent, and there’s no time to waste.
Environmental campaigners are calling Biden’s new set of executive orders “climate day.” They represent one of the most extensive efforts ever taken by a US president to deal with climate change.
Gene Karpinski, the League of Conservation Voters’ president, said:
This is the single biggest day for climate action in more than a decade, and what makes it all the better is that President Biden and Vice-President Harris are just getting started.
Joe Biden says the climate crisis poses an “existential threat” to the world. He said as he was signing a mountain of executive orders:
We have already waited too long to deal with this climate crisis; we can’t wait any longer. We see it with our own eyes; we feel it in our bones. It’s time to act.
Biden says there’s more to gain than only the environmental benefit. The remedy to pandemic-driven unemployment is embedded in the actions of tackling climate change too.
John Kerry, the US special climate envoy on climate, said:
[Workers have been fed a] false narrative [on the climate crisis]. They’ve been fed the notion that somehow dealing with climate is coming at their expense. No, it’s not. [We] need to grow jobs in renewables.
The president says investments in renewable electricity and energy efficiency measures for homes (and clean-up of former oil wells) will create millions of well-paid jobs. He said:
These aren’t pie in the sky dreams; they are concrete, actionable solutions. This isn’t time for small measures; we need to be bold. It’s about jobs, good-paying union jobs; it’s a whole of government approach to put climate change at the center of our domestic, national security, and foreign policies. We can do this; we must do this, and we will do this.
For the first time in history, the White House will have an office of domestic climate policy. The officials will coordinate Biden’s climate plan there alongside a national climate task force made up of 21 government agency leaders. The office aims to adopt a “whole of government” approach to reducing emissions. The team will also conduct a review of scientific integrity practices.
Biden said:
We desperately need a unified national response to the climate crisis because there is a climate crisis.
The Biden administration plans to install climate as an “essential element” of US foreign policy and national security.
Furthermore, the orders establish an environmental justice interagency council – a group designated to addressing the racial and economic inequities worsened by pollution and climate change. Biden is looking to pass a $2tn clean energy package through Congress that directs 40% of investments at disadvantaged communities. This is part of his pledge to put “environmental justice” at the center “of all we do.” He hopes to mitigate the disproportionate effects of global warming on such communities through policy and funding changes.
The US government plans to announce an emissions reduction by 2030 target (in line with the Paris climate accord) at an international climate summit on April 22, 2021, “Earth Day” (hosted by Biden).
