Biden's executive orders reset U.S. climate policy, prioritize environmental justice
President of the United States Joe Biden speaking at the 2019 Iowa Federation of Labor Convention in Altoona, Iowa. (Gage Skidmore)
Following Day 1 executive actions to rejoin the Paris Agreement and roll back environmental standards harmful to public health, President Biden has signed a set of executive orders to
- address climate change at home and abroad;
- set U.S. goal for a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035 and a net-zero economy by 2050;
- create "millions of good-paying, union jobs" in the clean energy sector and other specialized work;
- pause oil and gas leasing on federal land and targeting subsidies for those industries;
- conserve 30 percent of the country's lands and waters in the next decade;
- double the nation's offshore wind energy, and develop an all-electric federal vehicle fleet;
- and invest in environmental justice communities burdened by pollution and coal towns that face job loss as the U.S. moves to wind, solar, and other green energy sources.
President Biden's order, signed Wednesday, Jan 27, advances plans to develop U.S. emissions reduction targets in keeping with the Paris Agreement on climate change. The action also establishes the Office of Domestic Climate Policy and a national climate task force, and re-establishes the presidential council on science and technology.
"Today's executive order starts by saying it is the policy of this administration that climate considerations shall be an essential element of U.S. foreign policy and national security," said White House national climate adviser and former head of the EPA, Gina McCarthy, during a press conference.
Gina McCarthy, then-Vice President Joe Biden, and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser visiting a DC Clean Rivers Project in 2015.
Praising the action as a significant step in engaging with international climate change efforts, McCarthy cautioned, "...here at home, we have to do our part, or we will not be able to make the kind of worldwide change that climate change demands."
"So this executive order establishes a White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy, and it directs everyone who works for the President to use every tool available at our disposal to solve the climate crisis, because we're going to take a whole-of-government approach. We're going to power our economy with clean energy. We're going to do that in a way that will produce millions of American jobs that are going to be good-paying, that are going to be jobs that have the opportunity for workers to join a union."
"And we're going to make sure that nobody is left behind, and I'm not just talking about communities, in terms of environmental justice, but workers as well," said McCarthy, who noted that the order "commits 40 percent of our investment in clean energy towards disadvantaged communities. So they can benefit from the new jobs that are available and seed that better future."
The order also creates a White House interagency task force and advisory council to address environmental justice, including the Office of Climate Justice, and calls for an Office of Climate Change and Health Equity to address the climate changes as a public health challenge, McCarthy said.
Critics of the administration's climate change goals say the order will slash jobs— both in coal towns as the U.S. shifts to green energy sources; and in communities dependent on oil and gas jobs for local economic growth.
And at the press conference, one reporter pressed for more transparency: "Your executive order talks about oil and gas on federal lands, but it doesn't really say much about coal. What is this administration's policy when it comes to coal?"
Fielding these concerns, McCarthy said, "Well, in terms of the oil and gas decision, it was to make sure that we take a little pause and review the entire strategy... we're looking at public lands. So it will include looking at what new leases ought to be approved and sold; it's looking at our ability to look at coal in that mix. So the program review is going to look at how we manage public lands — consistent with climate, but also consistent with the marriage between climate and really growing jobs of the future."
Here in New Jersey, executive action plans to rebuild infrastructure for a sustainable economy, advance conservation, agriculture, and reforestation, and invest in energy communities reflect recent efforts to promote green energy production and protect environmental justice communities.
In 2020, New Jersey enacted S232, a landmark bill that denies permits for new facilities posing health and environmental risks to marginalized, low-income communities. The Garden State has also announced plans for the New Jersey Wind Port Project—considered the first in the nation to be built solely to develop offshore wind farms—and strives to reach a 100% clean energy goal by 2050.
We will continue to monitor how the state's initiatives mirror and benefit from national goals for job creation and climate justice. Curbing the effects of global warming, both locally and abroad, will be a protracted effort requiring a unified vision, collaboration, heightened public consciousness, and a renewed will to care for our planet's health and future generations.
"The stakes on climate change just simply couldn't be any higher than they are right now. It is existential," said Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, former Secretary of State John Kerry at the presser. President Biden's executive action "creates new platforms to coordinate climate action across the federal agencies and departments. And most importantly, it commissions a national intelligence estimate on the security implications of climate change to give all of us an even deeper understanding of the challenge," he said.