"Today is “Climate Day” at the White House and — which means that today is “Jobs Day” at the White House. And we’re talking about the health of our families and cleaner water, cleaner air, and cleaner communities. We’re talking about national security and America leading the world in a clean energy future.»
Staying loyal to his campaign's promises, the newly elected president began taking a whole government approach to tackling the climate change crisis. He defined it as an "essential element of the US foreign policy and national security," which is why he decided to apply an integrated approach to resolving the issue. On Wednesday, January 27, 2021, being a man of his word, the new president already signed three executive orders on climate. Although it is just the beginning, the start is already promising. So, let's see which changes the future is holding for us.
1. Return to the Paris Agreement
As it was promised, just a few hours after his inauguration, Joe Biden took the decision to return to the Paris Agreement. And this is the most crucial measure he could have taken since we do not have much time left. To be precise, we have until the end of the century before the consequences of climate change are no longer reversible.
However, as you surely remember, the twice-impeached former president – Donald Trump –still made the USA be the first country in the world to withdraw from the Paris Agreement.
What is the most outrageous is that this unprecedented event took place in the country that is the second-largest CO2 emitter in the world.
No doubt that Joe Biden was in such a rush to fix the damages caused by his predecessor. So, re-entering the agreement, under Biden's governance, the USA is planning to achieve 100% clean electricity by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2050. This is the most ambitious national plan so far, outpacing even the recently released China’s plan – aiming at zero emissions level by 2060.
2. Hosting of the Climate Summit
Running for the presidency, Joe Biden had also promised to host a global climate summit during his first 100 days as a president. As Jimmy Fallon recently joked in one of the latest episodes of his Saturday Night Live: "He knows that he can get the Americans to do anything if he makes it to sound like a Tik Tok challenge." But, honestly, for me, there is nothing wrong with this strategy. Given that the Paris Agreement does not set any legally-binding obligations for the countries, it is tough to make all the parties actually stick to their promises. And climate change is definitely an issue that requires our immediate attention and dedication. So, a nation-wide challenge spreading to the global scale should actually come in handy.
The new president's other important step was the introduction of the moratorium on oil and gas extraction. Mr. Biden also ordered to stop constructing the Keystone XL pipeline, which was supposed to provide 11 000 workplaces and generate $1.6 billion in gross wages. This decision has stirred a lot of turmoil among US workers. But the president remains quite optimistic.
"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," – he says.
It is also essential to touch on the fact that Biden has no interest in banning fracking. Indeed, he wants to use it to discover more underground gas formations, which will foster the clean energy transition.
But let's not forget that the economic reorientation from fossil fuels to clean energy also poses many social questions. Fortunately, for Joe Biden, it is not an issue. In contrast, the shift towards renewable energy resources, for the new president, is a way to deal with the soaring unemployment rate provoked by the pandemic of COVID-19.
Although many mining workers tend to express their dissatisfaction with the taken measures, insisting that their rights are to be violated by these changes, it is a transformation that we all need. To be fair, how many of us were forced to adjust our habits, lifestyles, and even lives due to the global pandemic? Exactly, almost if not everyone! So, climate change is no less of an "existential threat" than the global pandemic.
"It's a future of enormous hope and opportunity. It's about coming to the moment to deal with this maximum threat that we exist with as now facing us, climate change, with a greater sense of urgency. In my view, we've already waited too long to deal with this climate crisis. We can't wait any longer," – Joe Biden declares.
Here, the newly elected president follows one of his other predecessors' path – Franklin D. Roosevelt. The latter tried to overcome the Great Depression's massive unemployment repercussions by creating a "tree army" designed to provide the young men with jobs. Biden's Civilian Climate Corps strategy is based on the same principle: providing people with employment, which is also beneficial for the environment.
And the last but probably the most significant difference between Trump and Biden is that the new president clearly believes in the power of science. That is why he is trying to protect the scientists from political interference by all means. He wants them to "think, research, and speak freely to provide valuable information and insights to the American people."
And this is news to celebrate because it might protect us from the repetition of the COVID-19 pandemic scenario.
But what is particularly essential to underscore is that Biden's fight against climate change is also a battle for equal rights. And trust me, the two are directly linked. Those who suffer the most from the consequences of climate are also those who also have the least to do with it. That is why Biden plans to invest 40% of the $2tn clean energy package to support the disadvantaged communities. So, significant resources are about to be invested into the future that eventually will come.
"We've already waited too long to deal with this climate crisis.
We can't wait any longer."