[ad_1]
Washington – President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed a series of executive actions aimed at combating climate change, building on unilateral action, the president took his first day in office and stepped up the federal government’s attention to the issue, which took a back seat under the administration of former President Donald Trump.
Joined by Vice President Kamala Harris, Special Presidential Climate Envoy John Kerry and National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy, Biden said his actions “would overburden our administration’s ambitious plan to deal with the existential threat of climate change ”.
“It is about arriving at the right time to face this maximum threat that we now face, climate change, with a greater sense of urgency,” he said in remarks to the White House. “In my opinion, we have already waited too long to face this climate crisis and we cannot wait any longer. We see it with our own eyes, we feel it, we know it in our bones.”
The president said the nation “desperately” needs a unified response to the climate crisis and stressed that the United States must be the leader of the global response.
“It’s time to act,” he says.
In a trio of directives, Mr Biden ordered the Home Secretary to freeze new oil and gas leases on public lands and offshore waters “to the extent possible”, and to review leasing practices and existing permits related to the development of fossil fuels on federal lands and water. Mr Biden stressed, as he did during the presidential campaign, that his administration was not going to ban fracking.
The presidential executive order sets a goal of conserving at least 30 percent of land and water by 2030 and begins the process for the United States to develop an emissions reduction target and climate finance plan.
Mr Biden established the climate as a key element of foreign and national security policy, tasking the director of national intelligence, Avril Haines, to prepare a “national intelligence estimate” on the implications of climate change for security. . In the face of the rising climate in US foreign policy, Mr. Biden’s special presidential climate envoy Kerry will sit on the National Security Council.
Through his executive actions, the president formally established the White House’s Office of Domestic Climate Policy and established the National Climate Working Group, made up of officials from 21 federal agencies and departments. Before taking the reins of government, Mr Biden brought in McCarthy, a former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, as a national climate adviser, and she will head the Office of Domestic Climate Policy.
Mr Biden also signed a presidential memorandum protecting government scientists from political interference.
“It is a whole-of-government approach to placing climate change at the center of our domestic, national and foreign security policy,” the president said of his actions. “It advances conservation, revitalizes communities and cities and farmlands, and ensures environmental justice. Our plans are ambitious, but we are America. We are daring.
Mr Biden’s latest set of directives focused on tackling the climate crisis comes a week after he signed a reinstatement order for the Paris climate agreement, which was negotiated by the former president’s administration Barack Obama. On the first day of his term, the President also terminated the Keystone XL pipeline.
The president spent his first week in office launching a series of orders focused on the coronavirus crisis, manufacturing, immigration and racial fairness. Mr Biden said the climate touched on many of his agenda items, including promoting employment in the United States, ensuring the health of American families and protecting the security of the nation. .
[ad_2]
Source link