On April 22, president Biden announced a new initiative to aim to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and to install renewable energy sources.
The announcement was made during the Leaders Summit on Climate, and it is part of president Biden’s plan to create millions of good-paying, union jobs, ensure economic competitiveness, advance environmental justice, and improve the health and security of communities across America.
President Biden plans to invest $400 billion over ten years in funding for clean energy, cybersecurity and more. He aims to put the US back on track to decarbonize its electricity sector entirely by 2035, and its economy by mid-century. More importantly, Biden has made statements in striving to restore the climate system.
According to the preliminary 2020 U.S. climate summary from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Centers for Environmental Information, the average annual temperature for the contiguous U.S. was 54.4°F, 2.4°F above the 20th century average. This ranked as the fifth-warmest year in the 126-year record.
On day one of the initiative, Biden will require public companies to disclose climate-related financial risks and the greenhouse gas emissions in their operations and supply chains.
Although everyone across the nation has been impacted by the effects of climate change, the impacts of climate change– on health, economics, and overall quality of life – are far more acute on communities of color, tribal lands, and low-income communities.
With newly installed renewable energy, we now see more ambitious national pledges far beyond the commitments made in previous years. For example, reducing methane pollution quickly could slow the rate of global warming by as much as 30% and investments in large-scale natural infrastructure that protects communities, such as restored wetlands and floodplains can reduce the impacts and costs of future disasters, while creating local jobs. In addition, stricter rules regarding transportation usage will also reduce pollution coming from vehicles.
When talking about the newly installed plans, Baxter Griffith, Federal Policy Director, said, “We hope to see significant increases in the specific dollar amounts that can be appropriated for fiscal year 2022 in line with this proposal and the Energy Act of 2020, which authorized new important spending for carbon management and clean industrial technologies.”
President Biden’s initiative includes bringing back countless jobs as an important step to recover from the pandemic. He said, “When I think about climate change, I think about jobs.” Biden’s $2.7 trillion American Jobs Plan aims to rebuild a cleaner U.S. economy. The plan will enable millions of families who lost their jobs during the pandemic to regain a position in today’s economy.
Some people are skeptical about the plan, Ronnie Thompson, writer for the American conservation coalition, mentioned that “Before clearing out the Democratic presidential field, Biden had proposed a climate plan that would spend $1.7 trillion over ten years. His new plan goes much further, calling for $2 trillion in spending over the next four years. This follows the pattern of so-called climate hawks who feel that the only way to solve climate change is to throw as much money at the problem as possible.”
Ever since the inauguration, president Biden has been trying to restore changes made by the former Trump administration. Biden’s goal is to achieve the new U.S. target of cutting climate pollution by 50-52% by 2030 and a target of reducing the carbon footprint of the U.S. building stock 50% by 2035. However, the question remains: if Biden were replaced in 2024, would the policy still operate under a different president?
