What’s Next: How the Biden Administration May Approach Climate Change and Environmental Policy
Last week, Former Vice President Joe Biden was officially elected as the next President of the United States of America, unseating the incumbent, President Trump. The election of Mr. Biden as the nation’s 46th President will place environmental policy firmly in the political spotlight for the next four years. Joe Biden’s Plan for Climate Change and Environmental Justice is the most ambitious environmental policy proposal in United States history, and serves as a sharp contrast to Donald Trump, who vehemently denied climate change and used his executive power to undo countless environmental initiatives. While the former Vice President’s climate change and environmental goals are admirable, he faces a long road ahead to turn these proposals into successful policy.
The biggest roadblock Mr. Biden will encounter in his quest to make the United States a world leader in environmental policy is a gridlocked national government. Unless both Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock prevail in the Georgia runoff elections, Republicans will maintain their majority in the Senate. Republicans have demonstrated a long history of opposing environment and climate change legislation, and a GOP-led Senate can effectively block any of Biden’s major climate change proposals.
Nevertheless, there are plenty of ways that President Elect Biden can navigate a gridlocked government to enact meaningful climate change and environmental policy. While the road towards a 100% clean energy future is complicated, there are a variety of ways Joe Biden can immediately improve the environmental future of the United States and the world.
Analysis: To successfully implement effective environmental policy at the National level, Joe Biden must use Executive Orders to undo past harm from the previous administration, bolster clean energy primarily through economic policy, and connect rare instances of bipartisan agreement on environmental initiatives to broader legislation.
Regardless of which party controls the Senate, President Elect Biden will have a variety of ways to implement his environmental agenda. Detailed below are the different methods Mr. Biden can take to implement his environment and climate change platform.
Heavily rely on Executive Orders to undo past environmental damages.
As President, there are many positive environmental actions that can be enacted without any consultation from the other branches of government. As soon as he takes office, Biden can sign an Executive order to rejoin the Paris Agreement, the worldwide agreement signed by nearly every country in the world pledging to limit greenhouse gas emissions as a way to control climate change, after the Trump administration left the Agreement in 2020. Additionally, Biden can sign Executive Orders to undo the nearly 100 rules, regulations, and standards that were rolled back by the Trump Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency.
Relying heavily on these types of Executive Orders has pros and cons. On one hand, Mr. Biden can instantly improve the environmental future of the United States and protect the health of millions of people, wildlife, and flora without having to consult a gridlocked government. However, Executive Orders can easily be undone by the next anti-environment President, and any climate change proposal that needs funding must go through the gridlocked government. If President Elect Biden is constantly using his authority to pass Executive Orders for environmental issues, climate deniers within the Senate and House of Representatives may get frustrated and refuse to even listen to any important environmental policy that needs Congressional approval.
In summary, Mr. Biden must use Executive Orders for necessary environmental initiatives but remain cautious of overusing his authority so that members of the House and Senate will not refuse to work with him when attempting to secure bipartisan support for incredibly important climate change legislation in Congress.
Bolster clean energy policy indirectly through economic measures.
Climate change issues have long been a polarizing issue in United States government, even if the scientific consensus is clear. Renewable energy is no different, as politicians battle about the amount of investment needed in solar, wind, and other clean energy technologies. This was epitomized by the repeal of the Obama Administration’s Clean Power Plan, which mandated states to reduce their carbon and invest in renewable energy.
While the Trump Administration may have tried to halt clean energy in favor of coal, the market has continued to shift away from coal and towards clean energy. Despite the Trump Administration’s best efforts, U.S coal production actually decreased during Trump’s Presidency when compared to Obama’s Presidency. While it may seem shocking, coal production has constantly decreased in the United States since the beginning of the 21st century, while renewable energy production has skyrocketed in that same time frame.
Despite Presidential or governmental views on renewable energy or climate change, it is clear from an economic and consumption standpoint that renewable energy is the future. President Elect Biden needs to pass economic legislation that will help renewable energy continue to thrive. By focusing on bolstering clean energy through separate economic policy rather than strictly within climate change policy, Mr. Biden may gain more Congressional support, as climate change is a hotly contested topic. While it may be difficult to accomplish in practice, if Mr. Biden can work renewable energy subsidies or incentives into economic legislation, these measures may have a better chance of becoming policy, which can help bolster renewable energy even if his climate change proposals are struck down in Congress.
Attempt to bridge instances of bipartisan environmental support into larger legislation
As previously mentioned, President Elect Biden faces the probable challenge of having to pass most climate change legislation through a Senate majority held by the notoriously climate-change-denying Republican party. The past four years have been filled with opposing parties refusing to work with each other, but with a divided government (Democratic President, Republican Senate, as opposed to one party holding both), parties will have to work together to get anything accomplished, whether that be climate change or any other type of policy.
In a rare moment of bipartisan support this past September, leaders from both political parties proposed an amendment to the Senate Energy Bill that mandates the reduction of dangerous HFC pollutants. While it may seem small or trivial, this is an opportunity for Mr. Biden to galvanize bipartisan support for environmental policy. This amendment signals that there is desire from the Republican party to take action on environmental policy.
President Elect Biden needs to diligently work on coercing more moderate Senate Republicans into supporting climate change policy. Additionally, Mr. Biden must continue to find environmental issues that are mutually supported by both parties, such as the reduction of HFC’s, and propose policies around those issues, since they will have a greater chance of becoming official laws/regulations.
Conclusion
While Joe Biden may not have a clear path to pass widespread, seismic, climate change and environmental policy, there are certainly plenty of ways he can navigate complicated governmental conditions to pass important legislation that can shape the future of the United States. Only time will tell if some of these hypothetical ways to enact national environmental policy can become reality, and none of the aforementioned suggestions/strategies are guaranteed to work or even be pursued. But, on January 20th, 2021, Joe Biden will officially assume Office and he must do everything in his power to enact powerful environmental and climate change policies that help the United States address the imminent threat of global warming.
Bibliography
Image Credit Bloomberg Via Getty Images
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