As a start to his term, the newly sworn-in President Joe Biden has promised the return of the United States into the Paris climate accord and his support towards an oil pipeline project.
According to experts, Biden will have set concrete goals for emission reduction in order to regain the reduced credibility of the US which was severely impacted under the Trump administration.
In addition to this, Biden will also have to make sure his $2 trillion climate plan is put to good use and place the environment at the heart of the US economy, which is still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.
World Resources Institute official, David Waskow, said, “I think it’s important that the US shows that it means business at home.”
The Institute is expecting the new administration to set a goal of 45-50% reduction in emissions by 2030.
On Wednesday, Biden vowed to set up a climate summit within the first 100 days of his administration and invite leaders of major economies for discussions.
There are a number of steps the new leader’s team has said he will take right away to roll back environmental harm done by his predecessor.
These include reentering the Paris agreement — a 30-day process that begins when the US sends a letter to the UN — and scrapping the Keystone XL pipeline connecting the Alberta oil sands to coastal refineries in Texas.
Emmanuel Macron, the President of France, appreciated the new US President’s decision of returning to the Paris climate accord and welcomed him back in a message after his inauguration ceremony at the US Capitol.
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is pressing Biden to reverse his decision on the pipeline, likewise vowed to “work together to advance climate action and clean economic growth.”
Beyond Paris, the US federal government has various levers at its disposal, from imposing strict methane restrictions on new oil and gas infrastructure, to pushing federal contracts in the direction of renewable energy and zero-emissions vehicles.
The Trump administration took an axe to a host of environmental regulations, and a fact sheet sent to reporters from the incoming administration vowed to “immediately review and take appropriate action” on all these measures.
After the Trump administration issued leases on the drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on its last day in office, Biden promised to place the leases on a moratorium.
While former secretary of state John Kerry will lead US climate negotiations abroad, the domestic front will be headed up by Gina McCarthy, whom Biden has picked as the first national climate adviser.
Next month, Biden is set to present an infrastructure-focused plan in front of Congress, separate from the $1.9 trillion stimulus package.
This is where things can potentially become more tricky, given the Democratic Party’s razor-thin control of the Senate.
The to-be-announced package is expected to be along the lines of the $2 trillion green climate plan which was advertised during Biden’s campaign.
Former US President Bill Clinton’s counsel on Climate Change, Paul Bledsoe said, ” It promises to meet the climate crisis, build a clean energy economy, address environmental injustice, and create millions of good-paying union jobs. The challenge will be to bring Republicans on board with a clean energy infrastructure package that could systematically reduce American emissions.”
He further predicted that the Biden administration will attempt to work in cohesion with the Republicans to secure the 60-vote majority but will have an option of pursuing the 51-vote majority route which can be used to pass laws.
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Waskow said, “Embedding climate action fully into the way in which we build the economy, the way in which we generate jobs and ensure an equitable recovery, all of that is what will make this something long-lasting.”
The political and technical challenges are great, and there will be pressure on Biden not to pivot from fossil fuels too quickly — particularly natural gas, which has helped the US lower its net emissions for a decade and is seen as a crucial “bridging” energy.
But it also comes at a time of record-high recognition of climate change and desire for action among the US public.
A survey conducted after the election and published last week by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication found a majority of voters from both parties support policies to reduce carbon pollution and promote clean energy.
Fifty-three percent of voters said that global warming should be a high or very high priority for the president and Congress, while 66% said that developing sources of clean energy should be a high or very high priority.
