The global outlook on climate change is also much brighter now. He is expected to convene an international summit on decarbonisation at some point this year, and has already hinted at a net-zero emissions goal for the US. It is a refreshing notion for green groups that Biden is willing to push climate legislation to new heights in the US. For sustainability professionals that feel they may be knocking on closed doors in getting the wider business to embrace change, Biden offers optimisation that change can be restructured, almost overnight. However, McCarthy noted that the new administration will reverse “more than 100” climate-related policies introduced by Trump. These range from product standards for energy efficiency to car fuel and methane emissions. In fact, research from Columbia University has found that the Trump Administration has overseen the rollback of more than 160 regulations related to environmental protection. The President has also named Gina McCarthy and Ali Zaidi as National and deputy Climate Advisors, again both new positions.įour years under Trump has seen the US renegade on key global climate commitments, while also whitewashing mentions of climate change and stripping back existing national environmental legislation. More impressive is the speed in which Biden and his team have moved to restructure from the ashes of the divisive Trump administration.įollowing four years on environmental ignorance, Biden moved swiftly to appoint former Secretary of State John Kerry in a new role of Special Climate Envoy. But more importantly, by agreeing to a global effort to combat the climate crisis, the US is in a position to not just protect its citizens from future climate-induced threats, but drive a more prosperous and thriving global society through the lens of the green recovery. For starters, Pittsburgh and many other US cities publicly backed the Paris Agreement back in 2017, when Trump kickstarted his withdrawal process. By re-entering the Paris Agreement, Biden does not care more about the “ citizens of Paris than he does the citizens of Pittsburgh”. The announcements are profound, largely due to the ripple effect it will create in the global climate movement, both at a political level and a societal one.įirst, let’s dispel a myth-turned-meme. The US Government procurement system – worth $500bn annually – will also be revamped to focus on the purchase of clean energy and zero-emission vehicles. New orders have also been issued to reverse a relaxation on methane pollution limits for existing oil and gas projects that were introduced by Trump, a permit for the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline has been cancelled, and bans have been put in place on new oil and gas permits on public land, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. In addition to re-joining the global accord, Biden has also issued and widescale executive order examining Trump policies, with federal agents tasked with to address those that renegade on environmental protection. In just fours hours, the Biden Administration sought to make-good four years of environmental negligence steered by former president Donald Trump.īiden has officially submitted, via the UN, the US back into the Paris Agreement, a move which will come into force in 30 days. The first few hours of Biden’s presidency were nothing short of an upheaval. Yet this refrain of Biden’s presidency - this promise that things will get better - is butting up against his own dire political projections: A Congress potentially controlled by what he’s labeled “ultra-MAGA” Republicans as he faces midterm elections that will define, and quite possibly stifle, the next two years of his term.Image: Official White House Photo (public domain) “I’ve never been more optimistic about America’s future than I am today.” “I truly believe we’re just getting started,” he told a crowd in Florida on Tuesday. To throngs in an auditorium or a few dozen in a weathered union hall, the Democratic president declares he’s never felt more hopeful. Syracuse, New York, or Hagerstown, Maryland. The upbeat heart of the president’s message is the same wherever he goes. Still, for all of that, Biden insisted, the nation’s best days lie ahead. Election deniers and their impact on the upcoming nationwide voting. Russia and China’s efforts to upset the world order, surging inflation at home. He ticked off challenges: Technology that’s made it easier to corrupt the truth. WASHINGTON (AP) - It was his last stop of the day on a West Coast swing, a backyard fundraiser at a TV producer’s home in Los Angeles, and President Joe Biden was telling the crowd how tough the past few years have been.
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