Biden won. What does this mean for our planet?
DARIA FARMAN-FARMAIAN: The past four years have been a climate disaster. President Trump has aggressively rolled back climate policies set up during the Obama administration and reversed dozens of regulations on air pollution, natural gas extractions, and greenhouse gas emissions. On Nov. 4, the U.S. officially withdrew from the Paris Climate Accords. However, with the election of Joe Biden as president that same week, there is reason to be hopeful.
Biden’s campaign has promised a clean energy revolution with a focus on environmental justice in 2021. His plan entails investing 1.7 trillion dollars into climate change mitigation efforts, making the U.S. a net zero emissions economy by 2050, and holding polluters accountable for the damage they have caused in low-income communities of color. In short, Biden strives to re-establish the U.S. as a climate leader — a task which will require international and domestic cooperation.
The U.S. needs to restore credibility abroad in order to effectively combat the crisis alongside other nations. When the U.S. left the Paris Accords, Trump continued the legacy of Republican administrations, abandoning climate pacts joined by previous Democratic presidents. Without the U.S., China has taken a larger role in informing climate policy to its favor while other countries have struggled to keep on track with stated goals.
Biden’s plan to rejoin this agreement and create enforcement mechanisms to ensure the continued success of the climate movement after his presidency is critical to regaining international trust of the U.S. as a climate leader.
Re-establishing global leadership can only happen with strong domestic policy and unified action. Biden has already started confronting the issue during his transition by building a leadership team laser-focused on the issue. Every federal agency, program, and department is gearing up to work together as climate change experts join the ranks of leaders in charge in offices as high as the Pentagon and as small as the White House budget and regulatory offices.
The most illustrative example of this mobilization is John Kerry’s appointment as Biden’s climate envoy. This new cabinet position indicates Biden’s commitment to the issue in domestic and foreign politics both. Kerry — former secretary of state under President Obama — was vital in overseeing the creation of the Paris Accords. As climate envoy, Kerry is also part of Biden’s National security council, raising the issue of climate change to the top tiers of government and indicating the U.S.’s commitment to treating the issue like a security threat.
Kerry has his work cut out for him as he moves from Obama-era climate negotiations to more aggressive action. Part of this will involve reentering the Paris Agreement and persuading other countries to take bolder steps to cut their emissions by 2030. Kerry will also need to unify Democrats and Republicans to make bipartisan change within the U.S.
Even though two-thirds of Americans say the government should do more to address climate change, Kerry will likely face challenges with Republican opposition in the Senate. This is because many Republicans believe that reducing greenhouse gas emissions will hurt the economy, which is already suffering from the coronavirus. There is also a sentiment that, as the US only emits 15% of global greenhouse gases, countries like China and India should be more responsible for climate change action.
Kerry may not be the perfect liberal candidate, however, as some argue that he does not take aggressive enough stances on the issue. This is clear in his backlash from the anti-fracking group Food & Water which has criticized Kerry for having supported natural gas in the past and for promoting “false climate solutions like market-based carbon-trading schemes.”
Despite inevitable partisan tensions, Kerry successfully harnessed his bipartisan support in 2019 when he created a politically diverse coalition committed to working on climate change. As envoy, it is critical that he continues to unify the U.S. domestically on this divisive issue. With a country politically divided, regaining domestic trust on climate change is the only way that real change can be made.
Biden will not be the perfect climate change president. He has promised to bring the U.S. to net-zero emissions by 2050, but has also vowed not to ban fracking and the use of natural gas as an intermediary between coal and renewable energy sources. However, with Kerry and other climate leaders at the helm, the U.S. can and will get back on track to being a leader in the climate change conversation.
Daria Farman-Farmaian is a sophomore in Georgetown's School of Foreign Service from New York City. She is interested in global issues surrounding gender, climate change, human development and democracy.