This year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP26, has been hailed as “Best last chance“For collective climate action. As the rally kicks off on Sunday, the world is turning to the United States for leadership in a time of global crisis. But throughout his presidency, President Joe Biden has not only failed to deliver on his campaign pledges.” Climate change and environmental justiceBut it has often implemented policies to the contrary. Not enough that the Democrats in the end Agree to a framework agreement on climate Thursday; Biden’s streak of pro-fossil fuel policies must also be ended.
In stark contrast to former President Donald Trump, Biden Promise to be a leader And he pledged to support developing countries in their quest to reduce carbon emissions Doubling US Climate Change Aid and pledges to takeall the government“An Approach to Addressing the Climate Crisis. The President spent most of September on the road, trying to convince the country that climate change is real and declares that we areCan’t keep trying to ignore reality. “
But despite this great language, the truth is that during his nine months in office, Biden represented the same institution that has endangered humanity through the climate crisis. He has said one thing about the need to tackle climate change while his policies dictate otherwise. Or as a Generation Z environmental activist Greta Thunberg eloquently Put it: “Rebuild better, blah blah blah.”
The Biden administration has not used all of its powers to curb the fossil fuel industry. Instead, I moved to expand it considerably. In his first few days in office, Biden signed Temporarily suspending the executive order New lease contracts for oil and natural gas in public lands or in offshore waters. But just last month, the White House approved Leasing 78 million acres of offshore drilling In the Gulf of Mexico in what has been described as The largest auction of oil and gas abroad in the history of the United States. In May, the Biden administration Defended a huge oil project in Alaska, known as Willow, to produce more than 100,000 barrels of oil per day over the next 30 years.
These fossil fuels, according to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, are a cause Irreversible damage to the planet. However, when defending the Gulf of Mexico plan, the Biden administration mentioned The IPCC report “does not provide sufficient reason” to halt offshore drilling. Comments like this reflect historical US attitudes toward climate change, such as when Reports found that Exxon was aware of the impact of climate change Decades before it became public knowledge and chose to spend millions to cover it up rather than mitigate it.
Biden’s hypocrisy about the climate crisis led to it Defense His predecessor drilled for oil and gas in Wyoming as a way to “protect jobs and grow jobs.” The lease of new land for oil and gas extraction in Wyoming will be discontinued End Next year, Biden has not yet indicated that he will renew the hiatus.
the boss too backed Oil sands pipeline project, which will transport Canadian oil through Minnesota and Wisconsin. The project, also known as Line 3, is estimated The social cost of carbon is $287 billion, equivalent to the carbon generated from 50 new coal power plants. with a stroke of a pen, Biden, through an executive order, could stop Line 3 (which has already been done Leakage and cause environmental damage), as well as the Mountain Valley Pipeline and Enbridge Pipeline (Line 5), pipelines in Virginia and Michigan respectively that encourage the use of fossil fuels and are harmful to the environments around them.
Many of Biden’s campaign promises were outlined in his original “Building Back Better” plan but have since been determined stripped To please the moderates in the party. The “Building Back Better” framework still aims to transform the US power grid The second largest cause of emissions, to me Renewable energy by 2035. But Senator Joe Manchin, DW.Va. – Who has a personality? Financial interests in coal Industry – Exhibitor Clean Electricity Payment Program That was part of the previous version, which would have fined electric utility companies that fail to switch from fossil fuels to renewables. Manchin’s input also resulted in methane usage fees being stripped from the bill, in particular strong greenhouse gases.
The remaining climate measures in the plan will be used to provide tax credits to promote clean energy, such as solar power installations and electric vehicles, as well as make communities more resilient to disasters caused by climate change. But the agreed framework reduces by $50 billion to more than $550 billion from the amount earmarked for combating climate change. This is assuming that it will eventually happen passed by the Senate.
With hope looming over the planet above COP26, Biden’s hollow rhetoric isn’t enough. The chief told us we had arrived.”red code“On the climate; now he needs to work on it. With both houses of Congress and an executive office occupied by Democrats, we won’t have another chance like this. The future of the planet certainly won’t happen.”
