Shortly after his inauguration yesterday, Joe Biden's first act as US President was to sign an executive order which would bring his country back into the Paris climate agreement in a strong sign that his administration will take a different stance on the climate crisis to his predecessor.
President Joe Biden. Credit: Mike Beaty / Flickr
President Joe Biden. Credit: Mike Beaty / Flickr
The White House also made a sweeping order to review all of the Trump administration's actions that impaired environmental protections, as well as revoking the permit for the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the US, and a moratorium on the leasing of oil and gas activities in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge which had been recently opened for development.
The raft of orders by the newly inaugurated president marks the beginning of a major policy u-turn for the world's second-largest producer of carbon and greenhouse gas emissions after China, after his predecessor's repeated denouncements of climate science and rolling back of climate protections in order to maximise fossil fuel extraction.
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President Biden has also said that his administration will put the US on course to net-zero emissions by 2050, which will put the country in step with most of the rest of the world.
The new president has been widely congratulated on the other side of the Atlantic with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeting that "Europe is ready for a new start" and the Commission tweeting a welcome back to the Paris agreement.
The new administration will likely be met with opposition from fossil fuel companies and political divisions still rife in the US but with the Democratic Party controlling both the Senate and the House of Representatives, the government has a window of two years to push through its policy agenda with relative ease.
“We got off track very severely for the last four years with a climate denier in the Oval Office,” said John Podesta, an adviser to former President Barack Obama who helped create the 2015 Paris Agreement. “We enter the international arena with a credibility deficit.”
The raft of orders from President Biden will require government agencies to look at revisions to vehicle fuel efficiency standards and curbs to methane emissions, as well as possible re-expansion of wilderness national monument boundaries that the previous administration reduced.
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The orders were largely praised by environmentalists while conservatives and industrial groups weighed in with criticism.
The Republican Governor of Alaska Mike Dunleavy ridiculed Biden's moratorium of oil and gas works in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge saying that the newly inaugurated president "appears to be making good on his promise to turn Alaska into a large national park."
The US' top lobbying group for the oil and gas industry, the American Petroleum Institute (API) said that the revocation of the Keystone XL oil pipeline permit was "a slap in the face to the thousands of union workers" who were working on the project, and described it as "a significant step backwards both for environmental progress and our economic recovery".
“This misguided move will hamper America’s economic recovery, undermine North American energy security and strain relations with one of America’s greatest allies,” API President Mike Sommers said in a statement.
While global partners and climate advocates welcomed Washington's return to a cooperative stance on climate change, some voiced scepticism about the government's staying power and expressed doubts about its ability to overcome domestic political strife.
A group of Republican senators called for President Biden to submit his plan for engagement with the Paris agreement for "review and scrutiny" by lawmakers.
Former President Trump announced the US' withdrawal from the climate agreement in June 2017 arguing that it was detrimental to the economy. However, UN regulations meant that the country did not officially withdraw until November 2020, the day after the election.
Biden submitted the formal reapplication letter to the UN secretary-general yesterday evening, and it will come into force on February 19.
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Brian Deese, Biden’s director of the National Economic Council, told Reuters that the US hopes to encourage other big emitters to follow suit and “push their ambition, even as we have to demonstrate our ability to come back on the stage and show leadership.”
Pete Betts, of London-based think tank Chatham House who also led the negotiations for the EU when the Paris agreement was struck said that the US will also need to match its words with financial commitments.
“The U.S. will need to put some money on the table, and also encourage others to do the same,” he told Reuters.
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