A Close Look at Biden’s Climate Action Package

By: Ariana Thornton

Climate change has commonly been called the defining issue of our time. The statistics have been shared and repeated: global temperatures must be kept from rising more than 1.5𛲅C above pre-industrial levels to avert irreversible planetary damage. Currently, the world is on track for a 3𛲅C increase by the end of the century. We’ve witnessed and grappled with the impacts of this rising global temperature, especially over the first summer of Biden’s presidency, which was characterized by severe storms, heat waves, devastating wildfires, droughts, and floods in the US alone. With scientists urging the world to halve carbon emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, this decade is absolutely critical for climate action. 

Biden’s administration, then, is a crucial force in determining the future of America’s environmental state, and in part, the future of the world as a whole. Biden has long asserted himself as a believer and pioneer in environmental action, speaking during his inaugural address of the world’s duty to respond to a “cry for survival” coming “from the planet itself.” After four years of Trump’s decimation of environmental safety nets and senseless disregard of the climate crisis itself, Biden’s ascension to the White House on January 20 sparked a surge of relief and anticipation among environmentalists nationwide.

Climate politics have too often been preoccupied with grand declarations without any far-reaching policy change coming into fruition. Even the Paris Agreement, which Biden rejoined with much fanfare on the first day of his presidency, is more symbolic than legally binding. Also shared on social media that day were stately photos of Biden at his desk, pen poised above an executive order reversing many of the Trump administration’s environmental rollbacks. Such an image belies the messy, lengthy legal process that is required to restore several other past environmental protections--in some cases, it could take most of Biden’s term, much less his signature. The truest reassurance is not inspiring headlines or rousing rhetoric, but overarching policy itself.

Therefore, Biden’s Build Back Better climate action package is absolutely indispensable. A soaring $3.5 trillion plan introduced in July of 2020, it includes ambitious measures to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions that have not been pursued by any other American president in history. The plan proposes extensive investments in several sectors, including infrastructure, the auto industry, sustainable homes, agriculture, burgeoning clean energy technologies, and environmental justice. Its initiatives include creating millions of clean energy jobs, improving access to clean air and water, providing every city with zero-emissions public transportation, creating tax incentives for electric vehicle buyers and renewable energy producers, upgrading and constructing sustainable buildings, and righting wrongs in communities most heavily impacted by pollution.                 

At the core of this plan is the $150 billion Clean Electricity Performance Program (CEPP), which involves setting a nationwide clean energy standard. It would require power companies to gradually increase electricity generated from wind, solar, and other sources--in turn, phasing out fossil fuels--until carbon emissions are completely eliminated by 2035. The program would issue penalties to companies that do not switch to renewable energy. Representing a third of the emissions cuts that would come from Biden’s package, the CEPP would be a massive contributor towards Biden’s goal of a carbon pollution-free power sector and his target of cutting over 50% of US emissions by 2030.

The passage of this proposed agenda is extremely difficult in a closely divided Congress, and has been stalled for months since negotiations began. The Senate is split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, with Vice President Kamala Harris acting as the tie-breaking vote when necessary. Without any Republican votes, every single Democrat senator would need to be in agreement for the bill to pass. One Democrat’s opposition would entail the blockage of the bill entirely — and this is the case with West Virginia senator Joe Manchin.

Strongly opposed to the climate plan, Manchin has deep ties to the fossil fuel industry; he has received more in political donations from the oil and gas industry than any other senator in the electoral cycle. Before becoming a full-time politician, he ran a coal brokerage firm, Enersystems, which now represents 71% of his investment income and a third of his total net worth. His assets and wealth under threat, Manchin has not budged on his position against the bill, even with glaring data that his constituents are uniquely vulnerable to climate effects: West Virginia is more exposed to worsening floods than any other contiguous state. Yet, because Manchin’s vote is so crucial to the passing of the bill as a whole, a man only concerned with his own standing is now practically given the final say in what climate legislation is included.

As a result of Manchin’s demands, the climate package has recently been rewritten and trimmed to $2 trillion. Among the proposals dropped is the CEPP, the centerpiece of Biden’s original climate agenda. This turn of events is disappointing and baffling, again exposing one of the many faults in our political system: how can our legislators be able to hold significant personal wealth in the industries they vote upon regulating? One question comes to mind: will any bill bold enough to effectively combat climate change survive the US political system? 

Losing the CEPP is a heavy blow to the climate fight in America. Without it, reaching Biden’s climate goals will be difficult, but not impossible. The Biden administration is reworking the plan to include other options for meeting their target, and is still pushing for the strongest possible climate change policies. At the upcoming Glasgow Climate Change Conference, Biden is expected to point out the provisions that remain in his package as part of the evidence that the US, historically responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than any other country, is focused on leading a global effort to combat climate change. 

The proposal of such an ambitious climate package itself is an unprecedented step forward, demonstrating a tremendous and necessary attitude shift in our government: from Trump’s denialism to the Biden administration’s fervor and urgency to enact climate action. It’s long been clear, however, that enthusiasm alone is not enough to pass policy, and it remains to be seen what exactly the administration will do to keep the greatest US climate action vision afloat. It is imperative that such a robust climate proposal be put to action as soon as possible; the window of time the world has to act is narrowing alarmingly each year, and US leaders can no longer go about business as usual.