President-elect Joe Biden affirms that his decisions are made keeping in mind the benefit of both his country and that of the entire world. With that being the case, he intends to deal with climate change in an innovative fashion. He wants to address the problem in a way that no American president ever has.
Joe Biden’s executive orders
During his first days in office Joe Biden has outdone all his predecessors signing more than three dozen executive orders. He has been stating:
“Just like we need a unified national response to Covid-19, we desperately need a unified national response to the climate crisis because there is a climate crisis”
Joe Biden is exercising his presidential power in collaboration with the entire administration to deal with the challenging problem of climate change. He is approaching the issue from every angle in a strategic, integrated way and he is setting up the White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy. This will create the professional figures of National Climate Advisor and Deputy National Climate Advisor – that will operate directly from a central office in the White House. This office will be responsible for coordinating and implementing the President’s domestic climate agenda.
Biden’s policy will also establish a White House Environmental Justice Inter-Agency Council and a White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council which will address environmental justice and ensure a whole-of-government approach to current and past environmental injustices. Such councils will strengthen environmental justice monitoring progress and drafting revisions.
A change of direction from Trump administration
During Trump’s presidency some of the major policies concerning the climate were nullified. Legislation approved by his administration regressed on some fundamental positions that had already been put in place. Many of these rollbacks were challenged in court by environmental activist groups and some of them have already been annulled.
Joe Biden’s administration is expected to undo several of the rollbacks. With new executive orders, he is going to resolve issues including: revoking the permit that had been given to the controversial Keystone XL pipeline and the re-joining of the Paris climate change agreement (the U.S. still has to make a 2030 pledge in track with the Paris agreement’s target of containing global warming to “well below 2 degrees Celsius”).
Biden’s new plan for the climate
The new plans aim to ban new oil and gas leases on public lands and to double offshore wind-produced energy by 2030. Fossil fuel extraction on public lands accounts for almost a quarter of all US carbon dioxide emissions. Joe Biden’s climate-change plan is the boldest in US history, suggesting a $2 trillion investment in clean energy to create carbon-free electricity by 2035. His project also seeks to decrease greenhouse gas emissions from transportation by applying new fuel economy standards. The ultimate aim is that all new light-duty means of transportation will be electric and that heavier vehicles will progressively also convert to make ecological fuels.
Joe Biden has repeatedly called climate change an “existential threat”; his coordinated approach aims to ensure also the well-being of vulnerable populations. Biden has committed himself to helping deprived communities that have often had to bear the brunt of fossil fuel pollution. He will protect workers in affected categories like miners by making sure that they receive adequate pensions and health benefits they.
Biden and his administration will work to create a new class of well-paying jobs and job trainings focused on industries beneficial to the climate. These will include ecological infrastructure design, construction, evaluation, and coastal restoration. Joe Biden has compellingly stated:
“Today is climate day at the White House, we have already waited too long and cannot wait any longer”
