President Joe Biden took office vowing to make tackling climate change a top priority. In his first two years, the Biden administration has taken a flurry of executive actions, signed landmark legislation, and set ambitious targets to cut emissions. This article dives into the major climate moves so far, the challenges of transforming entrenched systems, and what it all means for the fight against global warming.
What Are the Highlights of Biden’s Climate Action?
The centerpiece of Biden’s climate agenda is the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), signed into law in August 2022. This sprawling legislation commits roughly $370 billion to clean energy and climate programs over the next decade – the largest such investment in U.S. history.
The IRA includes tax credits for electric vehicles, heat pumps and solar panels; incentives for domestic clean energy manufacturing; grants for rural electric cooperatives to buy renewables; and support for climate-smart agriculture practices. It’s projected to get the U.S. about two-thirds of the way to meeting Biden’s goal of cutting emissions 50-52% below 2005 levels by 2030.
Importantly, the IRA also has $60 billion earmarked for environmental justice priorities, aiming to direct 40% of the benefits of federal climate and clean energy spending to disadvantaged communities. This reflects the administration’s “whole-of-government” approach to climate action.
How Is Biden Using Executive Powers on Climate?
In addition to signing climate bills, Biden has wielded his executive authority to embed climate considerations across federal decision-making. On day one, he rejoined the Paris Agreement, revoked permits for the Keystone XL pipeline, and ordered agencies to review Trump-era rollbacks of environmental rules.
Biden has also issued executive orders and memos directing the government to:
- Achieve 100% carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035
- Make the federal vehicle fleet all-electric by 2035
- Double offshore wind energy production by 2030
- Conserve 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030
- Establish a Civilian Climate Corps to train youth for green jobs
- Factor climate change into national security and foreign policy
While executive actions are more vulnerable to legal challenges and reversal by future presidents than laws passed by Congress, they send important market and diplomatic signals. They also lay the groundwork for durable emissions reductions.
What Other Major Climate Laws Has Biden Signed?
Before the IRA, Biden signed a more traditional infrastructure bill in November 2021 that contained significant down payments on his climate agenda.
The $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act included:
- $7.5 billion for a national network of EV chargers
- $65 billion to upgrade the electric grid and expand renewable energy
- $55 billion for clean drinking water infrastructure
- $50 billion to make communities more resilient to climate impacts like floods, wildfires and droughts
- $21 billion to clean up legacy pollution and plug orphaned oil and gas wells
Taken together, the IRA and infrastructure law are projected to cut U.S. emissions 40% below 2005 levels by 2030, bringing Biden’s goal within striking distance if states and cities take complementary actions.
Is Biden Delivering on His Campaign Climate Pledges?
As a candidate, Biden promised to treat climate change as an existential threat and put the country on an “irreversible path” to net-zero emissions by 2050. He’s notched some clear wins, like the IRA’s historic investments and returning the U.S. to the Paris Agreement.
But there have also been setbacks and compromises. Biden pledged to ban new oil and gas leasing on federal lands, but his attempt at a leasing pause was blocked by a Trump-appointed judge. His administration has continued to approve drilling permits, albeit at a slower pace than Trump’s.
The Supreme Court has also emerged as a major obstacle, limiting the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate power plant emissions. And Biden’s proposal for a Civilian Climate Corps was stripped out of the IRA during Congressional negotiations.
So while Biden has made undeniable progress, turning campaign trail aspirations into durable climate policy has proven challenging amid entrenched fossil fuel interests, a conservative judiciary, and razor-thin Congressional majorities.
How Is Biden Handling the Fossil Fuel Industry?
Taking on the oil and gas industry is perhaps the trickiest part of enacting a progressive climate agenda. While Biden has spoken of the need to transition away from fossil fuels, his administration has at times been conciliatory toward the industry.
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent gas prices soaring, Biden released oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and called on companies to increase production in the short term. His Interior Department has continued to hold offshore lease sales, despite campaign pledges to end new drilling in federal waters.
At the same time, the administration has taken steps to reform the federal oil and gas program. It raised royalty rates for drilling on public lands, strengthened bonds companies must pay to clean up old wells, and tightened rules on methane emissions from oil and gas infrastructure.
These moves reflect the political and legal constraints Biden faces in untangling a century of fossil fuel dominance. Structural change takes time, and even a president as committed to climate action as Biden must navigate powerful incumbents.
What Is Biden Doing to Help Vulnerable Communities?
The Biden administration has put environmental justice at the center of its climate agenda. It established a White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council, and directed agencies to integrate equity into their decision-making and engagement processes.
The IRA includes a $27 billion greenhouse gas reduction fund, with more than half devoted to low-income and disadvantaged communities. It also has $3 billion for environmental and climate justice block grants, and $3 billion for reconnecting communities divided by highways.
Biden’s Justice40 Initiative aims to deliver 40 percent of the benefits of federal climate and clean energy investments to disadvantaged communities. And his proposed budget includes a new $1.4 billion climate and economic justice screening tool to identify and prioritize at-risk areas.
These efforts recognize that low-income communities and communities of color often bear the brunt of pollution and climate impacts. But going from lofty pledges to real results will require sustained focus and meaningful partnerships with front-line groups.
How Is the U.S. Engaging on Climate Internationally?
Rejoining the Paris Agreement was a crucial first step for the Biden administration to restore U.S. climate leadership. Since then, Biden has used his platform to push for stronger collective commitments.
At the COP26 climate summit in 2021, Biden pledged to quadruple U.S. climate aid to developing countries by 2024. He’s convened world leaders on forest protection, methane reduction, and clean tech innovation. And he’s leveraged partnerships like the Major Economies Forum to rally big emitters around more ambitious targets.
Crucially, the IRA’s massive investments send a signal that the U.S. is finally putting its money where its mouth is on clean energy. But there’s still a major gap between what the U.S. and other rich countries have promised in climate finance and what they’ve delivered to help poorer nations adapt and transition.
What Challenges Remain for Biden’s Climate Agenda?
Despite the unprecedented scope of Biden’s climate action so far, huge hurdles remain. A divided Congress could stall future legislation. The Supreme Court’s conservative majority is poised to further constrain executive authority. And the U.S. is still far off track from its emissions goals.
Oil and gas production hit record highs in 2022, driven largely by short-term thinking and market forces outside the president’s control. Sprawling fossil fuel infrastructure built over decades has its own momentum that even an engaged administration can only bend so fast.
Fundamentally transitioning an economy as large and complex as the United States’ is a generational endeavor. It will require not just ramped up federal investment, but also complementary actions by state and local governments, businesses, civil society, and individuals. It will demand reforms to everything from financial markets to zoning laws to government procurement.
The climate crisis is too far advanced for any one leader or one country to solve alone. But in his first two years, Biden has undoubtedly laid the groundwork for a more forceful American response. The question now is whether the country can build on that foundation fast enough to avert catastrophe.
Key Takeaways on Biden’s Climate Record
- The Inflation Reduction Act is the largest federal climate investment in U.S. history, putting the country on track to cut emissions 40% by 2030.
- Biden has used executive actions to make climate change a priority across the federal government, though these are vulnerable to legal challenges.
- The administration has begun to reform the federal oil and gas program, but continues to approve new drilling amid high gas prices and industry pressure.
- Environmental justice is a major focus, with billions of dollars targeted for disadvantaged communities in the IRA and a goal to direct 40% of federal climate benefits to these areas.
- Internationally, Biden has pushed for stronger climate commitments, but the U.S. still lags in delivering promised aid to developing countries.
- Challenges remain in the form of a conservative Supreme Court, entrenched fossil fuel interests, and the sheer scale and inertia of transforming the U.S. economy.
Ultimately, history will judge Biden’s climate legacy not just by the scale of his ambition, but by his ability to lock in structural changes that bend the curve of U.S. emissions downward for good. The climate crisis demands nothing less.