Washington – President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed a series of executive actions aimed at combating climate change, and built on unilateral action, the president took his first day in office and increased the federal government’s focus on the issue, which was taken under former President Donald Trump’s administration.
Along with Vice President Kamala Harris, special presidential envoy for climate change John Kerry and national climate adviser Gina McCarthy, Mr. Biden said his actions would increase the government’s ambitious plan to confront the existential threat of climate change.
“It’s about the moment to deal with this maximum threat we now face, climate change, with a greater sense of urgency,” he said in remarks at the White House. “In my opinion, we have waited too long to face this climate crisis, and we can not wait any longer. We see it with our own eyes, we feel it, we know it in our legs.”
The president said the country “urgently” needed a required response to the climate crisis, and stressed that the US should be the leader in the global response.
“It’s time to act,” he said.
In three prescriptions, Mr. Biden instructed the Home Secretary to freeze new oil and gas leases on public lands and foreign waters, “where possible,” and review existing leasing and permitting practices related to the development of fossil fuels on federal lands and water. Mr. Biden, just like during the presidential campaign, stressed that his government will not ban hydrofracking.
The president’s executive order aims to conserve at least 30% of land and water by 2030, and begins the process for the US to develop an emissions reduction target and a climate finance plan.
Mr. Biden set climate as a key element of foreign policy and national security, and instructed the director of national intelligence, Avril Haines, to draw up a “National Intelligence Estimate” on the security implications of climate change. To boost the climate in U.S. foreign policy, Mr. Biden’s special presidential climate, Kerry, will sit on the National Security Council.
Through his executive actions, the president created the White House Home Office and established the National Climate Task Force, consisting of officials from 21 federal agencies and departments. Before taking the reins of government, Mr. Biden McCarthy, former manager of the Environmental Protection Agency, has been named national climate adviser, and she will head the Office of Inland Climate Policy.
Mr. Biden also signed a presidential memorandum protecting government scientists from political interference.
“It is a governmental approach to put climate change at the heart of our domestic, national security and foreign policies,” the president said of his actions. “It promotes conservation, revitalizes communities and cities and the countryside, and ensures environmental justice. Our plans are ambitious, but we are America. We are bold.”
Mr. Biden’s latest set of guidelines aimed at tackling the climate crisis comes a week after he signed an order joining the Paris climate agreement, which was negotiated by former President Barack Obama’s government. On his first day in office, the president also effectively ended the Keystone XL pipeline.
The president spent his first week in office through a series of orders focused on the coronavirus crisis, manufacturing, immigration and racial equality. Mr. Biden said the climate affects a number of its agenda items, including promoting U.S. jobs, ensuring the health of U.S. families and protecting the country’s security.