Joe Biden has been president for a week. Here’s every climate action he’s taken so far
Dozens of directives have begun to reverse four years of rollbacks and weakening of climate and environmental rules under the Trump administration
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Your support makes all the difference.During his inaugural address, President Joe Biden made clear that there was no time to waste when it comes to “a climate in crisis”.
That message has permeated his first week in office which culminated in a “climate day” at the White House.
Read more: Follow live updates on the Biden administration
Over seven days, the president signed a slew of executive orders to tackle the issue, instituted new domestic and international policies, and made it clear to the world that America was back in the fight.
Here’s what the Biden administration has done so far:
- Rejoined Paris Agreement, the international pact to limit average global temperature rise to 1.5C
- Directed agencies to review and reverse more than 100 Trump actions on climate and environment
- Executive Order to combat the climate crisis both at home and abroad, including:
- Establishing climate change as an essential element of US foreign policy and national security
- Elevating climate in foreign policy with Special Envoy John Kerry sitting on National Security Council
- Developing America’s “Nationally Determined Contribution [NDC]” – each country’s emission reduction target – ahead of US climate summit in April
- Developing a climate finance plan
- Directing the Director of National Intelligence to estimate the security implications of climate change
- Directing State Department to prepare a transmittal package to the Senate for Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, which is aimed at reducing climate-warming chemicals hydrofluorocarbons
- Directing all agencies to develop strategies for integrating climate considerations into international work
- Establishing White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy, led by first-ever National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy
- Establishing “National Climate Task Force” across 21 federal agencies and departments
- Directing federal agencies to procure carbon-free electricity and zero-emission vehicles
- Ordering agencies to ensure jobs from climate funds have prevailing wage and choice to join a union
- Directing each federal agency to make facilities and operations climate resilient
- Pausing on entering into new oil and natural gas leases on public lands or offshore waters
- Reviewing existing leasing and permitting of fossil fuel development on public lands and waters
- Identifying steps to double renewable energy production from offshore wind by 2030
- Directing agencies to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies
- Identifying new opportunities for clean energy technologies and infrastructure
- Committing to goal of conserving at least 30 per cent of US lands and oceans by 2030
- Establishing a “Civilian Climate Corps” to put young people to work tackling climate change
- Directing Secretary of Agriculture to consult rural America on how to use federal programs to encourage agricultural practices that reduce emissions
- Establishing a working group on coal and power plant communities to help them transition
- Setting up working group to advance projects that reduce methane emissions, oil and brine leaks, and other toxic harm from former mining and well sites
- Formalizing commitment to make environmental justice part of the mission of every agency
- Developing a “Climate and Environmental Justice Screening Tool” to identify disadvantaged communities, to inform equitable decision making
- Executive Order establishing the president’s council of advisors on science and technology
- Scientific Integrity Presidential Memorandum - Directing agencies to make evidence-based decisions guided by the best science and data, and prevent political interference in science
- Executive Order on Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis, including:
- Cancelling the permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline
- Directing all executive departments and agencies to immediately review the rollbacks of climate and environmental regulations during the Trump era
- Reducing methane emissions in the oil and gas sector
- Establishing Fuel Economy Standards for vehicles
- Revising Appliance- and Building-Efficiency Standards
- National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants from Coal- and Oil-Fired Electric Utility Steam Generating Units
- Proposing new EPA regulations for methane and volatile organic compound emissions from existing operations in the oil and gas sector
- Reviewing monument boundaries and conditions at Bears Ears National Monument, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument
- Directing Office of Management & Budget director to develop recommendations to modernize regulatory review and undo Trump's regulatory approval process
- Moratorium on oil and gas leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
- Restoring the original Obama withdrawal of certain offshore areas in Arctic waters and the Bering Sea from oil and gas drilling
- Studying the social cost of carbon pollution via an interagency group
- Revoking other Trump executive orders including on expediting environmental approvals for high priority infrastructure; promoting energy independence; review of designations under the Antiquities Act; and the America-First Offshore Energy Strategy
- Climate change now recognized on the White House website as an “emergency” that will require meeting “the demands of science"
- Hearings for key Cabinet posts with notable influence on climate action including Transportation Secretary nominee Pete Buttigieg
- Janet Yellen approved as Treasury Secretary, who will assess the financial risks from climate change
- Antony Blinken approved as Secretary of State, tasked with rebuilding US relationships around the world to tackle global issues including the climate crisis
- Nearly 1,000 new administration appointees sworn-in via Zoom, who will play a role in “whole government” approach to crisis
- Held a “climate day" at the White House on 27 January to focus on specific policy priorities
- Announced a US climate summit on Earth Day - 22 April - by reconvening the Major Economies Forum
- “Virtually” deployed John Kerry to Davos and first-ever UN Climate Adaptation Summit
- Calls to allies including France’s Emmanuel Macron, UK’s Boris Johnson, Canada’s Justin Trudeau, Germany’s Angela Merkel and Japan’s Yoshihide Suga where climate change was named as a priority
- Call to Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg of NATO to discuss priorities including climate change
- “Buy American” executive order, closing loopholes and reducing waivers granted on federal purchases of domestic goods, aiming to ultimately replace 650,000 federal government fleet with electric vehicles
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