Biden signs new orders to fight climate change

Reuters

US President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed a new raft of executive actions to combat climate change, including pausing new oil and gas leases on federal land and cutting fossil fuel subsidies, as he pursues green policies he billed as a boon for job creation.

The orders map out the direction for the Democratic president’s climate change and environmental agenda and reverse the policies of his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, who sought to maximize US oil, gas and coal output by removing regulations and easing environmental reviews.

“In my view, we’ve already waited too long to deal with this climate crisis,” Biden told a White House ceremony, noting the threats the nation faces from intensifying storms, wildfires, floods and droughts linked to climate change as well as air pollution from burning fossil fuels.

“It’s time to act,” he said.

Clean energy for decent jobs

Biden unveiled a “whole-of-government approach” to put climate change concerns at the center of US national security and foreign policy as well as domestic planning.

He said building a modern and resilient climate-related infrastructure and a clean energy future for America would create millions of good-paying union jobs.

“When I think of climate change and the answers to it, I think of jobs,” added Biden, who faces pressure from liberals in his own party for aggressive action on climate change.

Biden’s measures to address climate change have cheered international partners and environmental advocates, but have drawn opposition from Big Oil, which argues his moves would cost the United States millions of jobs and billions of dollars in revenue.

“With a stroke of a pen, the administration is shifting America’s bright energy future into reverse and setting us on a path toward greater reliance on foreign energy produced with lower environmental standards,” said Mike Sommers, president of the American Petroleum Institute, the nation’s biggest oil industry association.

Cutting emissions

US special climate envoy John Kerry said the country plans to announce a target for reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 under the Paris Agreement before an international climate summit that Biden will host on April 22.

Biden last week announced plans to rejoin the climate accord after Trump’s exit.

The president directed the Interior Department to pause new federal oil and gas leases on public lands and offshore waters “to the extent possible” and undertake a “rigorous review” of existing leasing and permitting practices.

He also set a goal to conserve 30 percent of federal land and waters to protect wildlife by 2030 and seek to double renewable energy production from offshore wind, also by 2030.

Eliminating subsidies

Biden directed federal agencies to “eliminate fossil fuel subsidies as consistent with applicable law.”

It was not clear which subsidies could be stripped away under the order, given many of the industry’s tax breaks are congressionally approved.

He said he would ask Congress to end the US$40 billion in fossil fuel subsidies through legislation.

The president said his goal was to achieve an electric energy sector fully without carbon pollution by 2035.

He cited “environmental justice” in his plan to spur investment in low-income and minority communities disproportionately affected by pollution. He also vowed to help revitalize the economies of coal, oil and gas and power-plant communities.