How Joe Biden Wants to Get One of the Most Ambitious Plans to Fight Climate Change Done

The Democrat is working proactively to fulfill one of the most progressive climate change plans ever for a president.

Hurricanes that make landfall are maintaining their strength longer due to warmer ocean waters, a new study suggests. Bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and disease-carrying insects live longer in warmer-than-average temperatures, creating the “perfect storm” for the spread of diseases. And a 2009 study noted that a continual lowering in the total amount of ozone in the Earth’s atmosphere, largely caused by manufactured chemicals, has led to an ongoing increase in skin cancers.

These are just some of the effects of global climate change. And they are not theoretical or off in the distant future. They are happening now, affecting millions of American lives.

President-elect Joe Biden made climate one of the major pillars of his political platform. And a growing number of Americans seem to agree with his urgency in dealing with the global crisis. In fact, according to a 2019 poll conducted by The Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), a large majority of Democrats (90%) and independents (82%) agree that human activity is causing changes to the world’s climate.

An Ambitious Agenda

With a plan to make climate policy a priority not just at environmental agencies, but at all levels of the federal government, the president-elect’s strategy is aimed at making significant cuts in greenhouse gas emissions even without congressional action, by maximizing executive authority.

And he is wasting no time moving forward. In fact, a team of more than 150 experts and former Obama administration officials, including nine former cabinet appointees, have already delivered to the Biden team a 300-page blueprint that lays out a holistic and comprehensive approach to the climate change issue.

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The document outlines how the incoming administration could reduce greenhouse gases beyond just reversing current administration policies that spurred oil and gas drilling and eased up on pollution controls.

The recommendations in the Climate 21 Project include:

• Creating a White House National Climate Council that is “co-equal” to the Domestic Policy Council and National Economic Council.

• Establishing a so-called “carbon bank” under the USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation that would pay farmers and forest owners to store carbon in their soils and lands.

• Developing a climate policy at the Treasury Department that will promote carbon reductions through tax, budget, and regulatory policies.

Biden’s own plan seeks to invest $2 trillion over four years to escalate the use of clean energy in the transportation, electricity, and building sectors, and is part of his proposal to create economic opportunities and strengthen infrastructure while tackling climate change. It includes:

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• Ensuring the US has a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035 and reaches net-zero emissions no later than 2050. The plan would include upgrading 4 million buildings and weatherizing 2 million homes over four years to increase energy efficiency.
• Providing cities with a population of 100,000 or more with zero-emissions public transportation, including infrastructure for bicyclists.
• Encouraging the switch from internal-combustion engines to electric-powered vehicles.
• Rejoining The Paris Agreement, which aims to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change, including in developing countries.

A Critical Investment

Biden spoke of his plan to invest in climate change in a speech he gave in Delaware over the summer.

“These are the most critical investments we can make for the long-term health and vitality of both the American economy and the physical health and safety of the American people,” he said.

Now, the president-elect is working to fulfill one of the most ambitious climate change plans ever for a US president.

You can read the entirety of Joe Biden’s Climate Plan HERE.