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President Joe Biden launched government-wide actions through an
executive order on climate change that will now be coordinated
by a new White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy.
Climate change is an "existential threat" to the US, Biden said
27 January in a televised address, as he called for a "unified"
national and global response.
Led by the first-ever National Climate Advisor, Gina McCarthy,
who headed the US Environmental Protection Agency under President
Barack Obama, and Deputy National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi, the
new office will implement Biden's domestic climate agenda.
McCarthy and Zaidi will coordinate the work of a National
Climate Task Force, which will enable a "whole-of-government
approach" across 21 federal agencies and departments to combat
climate crisis.
Biden has made climate change one of the top priorities of his
administration and deemed it a national security risk. Shortly
after being sworn in, Biden signed an order to pave the way for the
US to rejoin the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate, a non-binding
treaty that aspires to limit global warming to less than 2 degrees
Celsius.
The "whole-of-government approach", as Biden described it, is
focused on reducing the federal government's carbon footprint
through purchasing carbon-free electricity and zero-emission
vehicles, freezing new permits for oil and natural gas exploration
on federal lands and ramping up renewable energy generation from
offshore wind sources by 2030. The order also calls for expediting
the siting and transmission infrastructure from clean energy
sources and spurring development and deployment of clean
technologies like battery storage.
Clean, affordable, and cheap
"It is my goal to have a 100% carbon-free electric sector by
2035," Biden said, noting that 84% of US electricity expected to
come online in 2021 is from clean energy.
"Why? Because it is clean, it is affordable, and in most cases
it is cheaper," he added.
At the same time, Biden said he is creating an Interagency
Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic
Revitalization that will investigate technical assistance, grants,
and other opportunities to revitalize communities that have lost
jobs because they were home to coal mines or relied on oil and gas
revenues.
Plugging leaks in oil and gas wells and reclaiming abandoned
mine land will create well-paying union jobs in coal, oil, and
gas-focused communities while restoring natural assets, the
economies, and curbing methane emissions, according to the White
House.
Biden also created a White House Environmental Justice
Interagency Council that is set to work toward minimizing the
impact on minority and low-income communities that have suffered
the effects of pollution by oil and gas operations.
To that end, the order also creates an Office of Climate Justice
at the Department of Justice "because we know the communities who
are being hurt, and we know we have to start enforcing the
standards today and ensuring that they are part of the solution and
in places that we can invest," McCarthy said.
Biden wants to make sure that all communities benefit from the
transition to clean energy and that is why 40% of funds slated for
investment in clean technologies will be directed to disadvantaged
communities, she added.
Biden has spent more time campaigning on climate issues than any
other president, and "science is telling us we don't have a moment
to lose," McCarthy said.
Global leader
In addition to taking steps at home, Biden is making sure that
climate change is addressed on a global scale as well, John Kerry,
Biden's special envoy on climate, told reporters. "We are going to
make sure that climate is central to foreign policy planning,
diplomacy, and national security preparedness," Kerry said.
He said the order commissions a first-ever national intelligence
estimate on the security implications posed by climate change.
It also orders the Department of State to prepare a legislative
package on the Kigali Amendment. The order directs the agency to
prepare a transmittal package, seeking Senate advice and consent on
the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, which seeks to
gradually reduce the consumption and production of
hydrofluorocarbons.
If fully ratified and enforced globally, "the amendment could
hold the Earth's temperature by 0.5 of an entire degree," Kerry
said.
Biden wants the US to be the global leader in tackling climate
change and clean energy technologies. He plans to hold a "major
economies forum" with world leaders on climate on Earth Day, which
falls on April 22. The US intends to announce its revised national
determined contribution (NDC) to the Paris Agreement prior to this
summit, Kerry said.
Neither Kerry nor McCarthy indicated whether an updated US
greenhouse gas reduction goal would reflect Biden's net-zero carbon
pledge. McCarthy said the NDC would be drawn up after consulting
with the heads of each federal agency serving on the task force.
According to the order, the heads of each of these agencies have
120 days to draw up a draft action plan that outlines steps to
bolster resilience and adaptation to climate impacts.
'Wasting no time'
"President Biden is wasting no time ramping up the US climate
effort both at home and abroad," Bob Perciasepe, who heads the
nonprofit Center for Climate and Energy Solutions.
The executive order signed 27 January demonstrates a
"whole-of-government approach" to tackling the climate challenge,
from measures to grow clean energy and electric vehicle use to
prioritizing justice for marginalized communities, said Perciasepe.
"What's more, with his plan to soon convene world leaders, the
president is quickly leveraging stronger US resolve to spur
stronger global action."
Likewise, Heather Zichal, chief executive officer of the
American Clean Power Association, also hailed the presidential
directives because they will help the US transition to clean,
renewable energy.
"Justice for disadvantaged communities and welcoming legacy
energy workers into the clean power workforce are vital aspects of
the success of the clean energy transition," said Zichal.
The US Chamber of Commerce endorsed Biden's "whole-of-government
approach" as well as a separate presidential order restoring
scientific integrity to the federal rulemaking process. The chamber
objected to the "indefinite ban" on new oil and gas leases for
public lands though.
"The impacts of climate change are far reaching and it will take
smart policies across a wide spectrum of issues to achieve
meaningful global emissions reductions while also supporting
economic growth and job creation," Marty Durbin, the chamber's
senior vice president for policy, wrote.
Durbin said Biden's decision to pause new oil and gas permits
was "bad policy and counterproductive to the goals of supporting
the economy and combatting climate change."
Posted 27 January 2021 by Amena Saiyid, Senior Climate and Energy Research Analyst