The President of the USA. U.S. Attorney Joe Biden this week described the climate crisis the planet is experiencing as an “existential threat.” “We can’t wait any longer. We see it with our own eyes, we feel it. We know it in our bones.”, He stated.
That was how the newly-appointed president put this issue at the top of his government’s agenda after signing a series of executive orders that pthey profile climate change as a national security priority.
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An issue that former President Donald Trump, a global warming denier, virtually removed from US geopolitical priorities. UU. During his presidential term (2017-2021).
That’s why Biden wants to regain the influence his country used to have on this issue. “We have to lead the global response,” the Democratic leader ruled.
The measures announced include, among other things, the suspension of new contracts on federal and marine land for oil and gas drilling, Orders federal agencies to buy electric cars and end fossil fuel subsidies.
Likewise, the executive order aims to achieve a carbon-free energy sector by 2035 and for the country to continue on an “irreversible path” toward a zero-emission net economy by 2050. These decisions also add to the order to convene a climate summit for April 22 and the return of the US. UU. in the Paris Agreement, an action ordered by Biden on his first day in office.
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According to Bloomberg, although oil and gas companies knew they would face change with the new US president, “No one expected fossil fuels to be the target of such an immediate attack.”
“The industry is horrified by these changes (…). They are more direct, fierce and fast than people expected,” Dan Eberhart, executive director of oil services company Canary Drilling Services, told Bloomberg.
At the national level, President Biden will have to work with Congress and the private sector to pass new legislation regulating greenhouse gas emissions
The truth is that climate change is a matter of the utmost urgency. In fact, the latest report from the European service Copernicus turned on the alarms again. According to them, 2020 was the warmest year in the world along with 2016, following a decade of record temperatures evidencing the “urgency” of acting against global warming. These effects are already visible all over the planet, for example, with the melting of the Arctic and glaciers, exceptional heat waves, torrential rainfall and record hurricane seasons.
However, Biden faces a whole host of challenges to implement his agenda and mobilize his country and the world in the fight against climate change. EE. UU., The second largest emitter of greenhouse gases on the planet (after China), has one of the most powerful energy mining industries, on which millions of workers depend.
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In the other hand, the country’s economic model is based for the most part on the use of oil and gas. In addition, the fight against climate change is an issue that also competes with other countries in the world, so coordinated action is paramount.
the challenges
That is why experts believe that the road will not be easy for Biden. Columbia University professor André Corrêa d’Almeida, development economist (and author of Smarter New Yorki), explained in dialogue with EL TEMPS that the American president it will have three battle fronts for its environmental agenda: the opposition of the Republican Party, the ‘lobby’ of the extractive industries and the relationship with China.
“At the national level, President Biden will have to work with Congress (executive orders will not be enough) and the private sector to pass new legislation regulating greenhouse gas emissions for the automotive industries, the energy and oil and gas.The focus will not be on elimination, but on innovation, as EE. UU. It will try to reclassify its workforce around renewable energy“, Said Corrêa d’Almeida.
On job generation, Biden argued that improvements in infrastructure and technology to curb global warming will add millions of jobs to the country. Federal actions will aim to complement a $ 2 trillion infrastructure plan that the president is expected to present to Congress next month and that, as he promised this Wednesday, will serve as a driver of future economic growth.
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President Biden wants to establish a moderate process that moves the country in this direction, but without harming the traditional economy
But his proposals have already been met with detractors who will block initiatives that go to Congress. “According to a study, the decision on federal land will leave us without nearly a million jobs. It’s a fantastic way to start a presidency: mass layoffs of our own citizens. Americans working in other sectors they will also pay, ”Mitch McConnell, a Republican leader in the U.S. Senate, said on the matter.
For his part, the executive director of the American Petroleum Institute (API), Mike Sommers, said in a call with international agencies that, despite sharing with Biden the goal of fighting climate change, the executive order “is nothing more than a more crude import policy that will weaken US energy leadership. it will hinder economic recovery and destroy national security. “
Faced with the expected rain of criticism, Biden said when signing the decrees that he will not ban ‘fracking’ (hydraulic fracturing). “(…) We will protect jobs and jobs will grow, including stronger standards such as controls on methane leaks“He said.
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Carlos Arévalo, professor of International Law at the University of the Savannah, considered the president of EE. UU. It started with policies aimed at reducing dependence on gas and oil, but lacks more teeth in the measures to generate a more substantial change.
“Biden was prudent. One might think he wants to show himself as a green president, but we have to wait. It is in the effectiveness of his measures where one can see if he really is. But he starts wanting to show his government as an administration. green, “he added.
For his part, political scientist Orlando Pérez, dean of the Faculty of Liberal Sciences and Arts at the University of North Texas, told this newspaper that the Democrat’s measures could have effects on the country because its economic apparatus is affected by the pandemic. “Changes in energy production, for example, in the coal or oil industry can cause job losses in a major industry. for some states, such as Texas, West Virginia, Alaska. And it can also increase the cost of energy for the consumer, ”he said.
He added: “President Biden wants to establish a moderate process that moves the country in this direction, but without harming the traditional economy. (…) The party acknowledges that it is not possible to go very fast due to the effects of the pandemic. , but it is difficult to predict what will happen over the next four years. “
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In fact, there is a more radical wing of the Democratic Party, led by lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is pushing for the Green New Deal, an initiative that calls for bringing the US. UU. Towards 100 percent clean energy in the next 10 years.
And although Biden is opting for a more moderate position for now, his measures will not end here. We must not lose sight of the fact that, as reported by The New York Times, Biden named “the largest team of climate change experts ever gathered in the White House”. It includes veterans of American politics such as former Secretary of State John Kerry, who was appointed as the international envoy for climate change, and environmental expert Gina McCarthy, who will no doubt push for more changes for the country.
It is even expected that EE. UU. Announced during the Climate Leaders Summit that convened for April 22 more ambitious targets for reducing pollutant emissions. “Biden has a great opportunity. It’s about rethinking the development model. What is really doing crisis is this model of capitalist development that has overwhelmed nature, that has subjugated it. (This) is a leadership opportunity for Biden to reposition his country on the global agenda, “said Dionne Cruz, a political scientist and professor at Javeriana University.
However, all this effort and turnaround in domestic policy would make no sense if there is no international cooperation and all countries are making efforts to reduce pollution, especially with China, the main emitter of greenhouse gases. “If there’s one thing that made tribes and nations cooperate very effectively throughout history, it was the perception of a common enemy. Climate change is the common enemy of the 21st century for the United States and China”, Aseveró Corrêa d’Almeida.
For his part, Arévalo acknowledges that Biden arrives with a more conciliatory position for dialogue with China. “Climate change will be relevant to them (China) because they suffer the consequences, especially from rising sea levels. But the environment is not the first item on their agenda,” he said.
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However, Washington will not have it easy. China has expressed caution in recent days of cooperating with the Biden administration. China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said the two countries have considerable room for cooperation in areas such as climate change. But he added that EE. UU. He must first be careful not to harm China’s interests.
The truth is that in the new US administration there is a clear goal and it already recognizes that time is running out to reverse the effects of climate change. “There are nine years left to make decisions that avoid the worst consequences of the climate crisis, we are entering a decisive decade for action,” Kerry pointed out during the Davos Economic Forum.
CARLOS JOSÉ REIS *
International writing
* With information from agencies