President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed a new raft of executive actions to combat climate change, including pausing new oil and gas leases on federal land and cutting fossil fuel subsidies, as he pursues green policies he billed as a boon for job creation.
The orders map out the direction for the Democratic President’s climate change and environmental agenda and reverse the policies of his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, who sought to maximise US oil, gas and coal output by removing regulations and easing environmental reviews.
“In my view, we’ve already waited too long to deal with this climate crisis,” Biden told a White House ceremony, noting the threats the nation faces from intensifying storms, wildfires, floods and droughts linked to climate change as well as air pollution from burning fossil fuels. “It’s time to act.”
Biden unveiled a “whole-of-government approach” to put climate change concerns at the centre of US national security and foreign policy as well as domestic planning. He said building a modern and resilient climate-related infrastructure and a clean energy future for America would create millions of good-paying union jobs.
“This is a case where conscience and convenience cross paths, where dealing with this existential threat to the planet and increasing our economic growth and prosperity are one and the same. When I think of climate change and the answers to it, I think of jobs,” added Biden, who faces pressure from liberals in his own party for aggressive action on climate change.
Biden’s focus on climate change has cheered international partners and environmental advocates, but upset Big Oil, which argued that his moves would cost the US millions of jobs and billions of dollars in revenue with the US economy still battered by the Covid-19 pandemic.
US special climate envoy John Kerry said the USplans to announce a target for reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 under the Paris climate accord before an international climate summit that Biden will hold on Earth Day April 22.
