What Can A Biden-Harris Administration Do For Our Climate
Hi everyone,
In recent news, Joe Biden has won the US presidency and is now the president elect of the United Stated. Therefore, I would like to take the time to talk about what Joe Biden’s presidency will mean for the environment. So even though I will not be talking about the pollution caused by the music industry, I do hope that you will find this post insightful and that it gives you a sense of hope to see the United States once again moving in the right direction.
With Joe Biden’s long history of climate action, from 1987 till today, it is no wonder Politifact has described him to a ‘Climate Change Pioneer’. His journey vouching for climate action in the US started in 1986 when he introduced one of the first ever climate change bills in congress. The global climate protection act in which he introduced was in hope of getting the president to set up a climate change task force to figure out a way to mitigate global warming. As a man of science, Joe Biden has since been on top of the climate change issue, with the hopes of influencing positive change in our environment to help the climate crisis.
So, what can a Biden-Harris administration do for our climate? Here is a brief rundown of the plans that they have promised to undertake as soon as he steps into office:
The Paris Agreement:
Firstly, one major change that is already certain is that Joe Biden has vowed to rejoin the Paris Agreement on his first day as president, leading the United States in the global attempt to tackle the climate crisis.
The Paris Agreement is a landmark environmental accord that nearly every nation adopted in 2015 to try and address the problems of climate change. During Trump’s administration, he withdrew the US from the paris agreement as he labelled it to be a ‘unfair economic burden imposed on American workers, businesses and taxpayers’. By reversing the decision by trump and rejoining the paris agreement, Biden could reestablish the US as a global leader on climate change and pave the way in tackling the global climate crisis.
Climate Plan:
Joe Biden has also released a fairly ambitious climate plan which can be seen in the video below.
As a summary, with his climate plan, Joe Biden plans on:
- Including federal investment of $1.7 trillion over the next 10 years
- Achieving a clean energy economy and net-zero emissions by 2050
- Create 10 million ‘green jobs’ in the process
- Invest in smart infrastructure to increase the resilience to a changing climate
Addressing Climate Injustice:
And lastly, Joe Biden has pledged to address the issue of environmental injustice in the United States. He plans to do this through a number of ways. Firstly, he plans to designate 40% of his climate investment funds to supporting disadvantaged communities. Next, he plans on tackling the issue on water pollution in a science based manner and lastly, he plans to introduce many community driven approaches to tackle the environmental injustices that currently affect disadvantaged communities such as the communities of colour, low income and indigenous communities.
Overall, Bidens ambitions plans to tackle the climate crisis will definitely be a real challenge not so much because of how ambitious there are but more so because of the time that had been lost during trumps administration. With the window for climate action closing ever so rapidly, together with Trump’s failure to act on it for the last 4 years, Biden has a lot of catching up to do and its not certain that he will have the time to do it.
References:
PolitiFact, & Joe Biden Former Vice President https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ljF323fHww. (2019, May 08). PolitiFact – Was Joe Biden a climate change pioneer in Congress? History says yes. Retrieved November 11, 2020, from https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2019/may/08/joe-biden/was-joe-biden-climate-change-pioneer-congress-hist/
The Biden Plan to Secure Environmental Justice and Equitable Economic Opportunity. (2020, October 30). Retrieved November 11, 2020, from https://joebiden.com/environmental-justice-plan/
December 12, 2. (2020, April 29). Paris Climate Agreement: Everything You Need to Know. Retrieved November 11, 2020, from https://www.nrdc.org/stories/paris-climate-agreement-everything-you-need-know
Semansky, P. (2020, November 10). The environment is in trouble. Here’s what Biden can do to address it. Retrieved November 11, 2020, from https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/environment-and-conservation/2020/11/the-environment-is-in-trouble-heres-what-biden-can-do-to