On the day of the inauguration ceremony, US President Joe Biden signed 17 executive orders, including the return to Paris Agreement and the cancellation of keystone XL oil pipeline project license, overturning a series of policies during the trump administration. What is the trend of the environmental policy of the new US government?

1. Give top priority to climate change and attach importance to clean energy development

Biden is very concerned about climate change and made it clear during the election that addressing climate change is his top priority. Biden's "Biden's clean energy revolution and environmental justice plan" put forward a $2 trillion climate investment plan, as well as the goal that the United States will achieve zero carbon pollution in the power industry by 2035 and zero net emissions by 2050. In addition, Biden nominated a number of climate change officials, including former US Secretary of State John Kerry as the president's special envoy for climate change, who will be fully responsible for climate change; and US EPA director Gina McCarthy as the national climate policy coordinator, who will lead the new "national climate policy" department established by President Biden.

Biden pointed out in his campaign platform that he would hold a global climate summit within 100 days of his administration, and called for the elimination of fossil fuel subsidies at the global level. On January 20, Biden fulfilled his campaign promise and signed an executive order to let the United States return to the Paris Agreement, demonstrating his ambition on climate change. In the future, Biden government will strengthen multilateral diplomacy and enhance its influence in the field of global environmental governance, especially in the field of climate change.

As for the planning of energy policy, Biden continued the program of the Democratic Party, took "our good days are still ahead" as the campaign slogan, and wrote his support for clean energy and worries about climate change into the leadership charter. During the election campaign, Biden repeatedly stressed the serious pollution caused by the oil industry and the necessity of replacing it with renewable energy, and made a number of commitments to promote the development of clean energy. Biden also proposed the goal of "achieving 100% clean energy economy and carbon neutrality by 2050", and will implement the following measures. Strict methane emission limits are required for the oil and gas industry. Identify the future of nuclear energy and support research on issues ranging from cost to safety to waste disposal systems. We will vigorously develop biofuels, create jobs and formulate new solutions to reduce emissions from aircraft and ocean going ships. To achieve 100% clean energy and zero emission vehicles from federal procurement (US $500 billion per year). We will invest 400 billion US dollars in clean energy infrastructure construction and speed up the promotion of electric vehicles. Strictly implement the existing clean air act and set strict new fuel economy standards to ensure 100% electrification of newly sold light and medium vehicles and annual improvement of heavy vehicles.

Biden also promised to ban new oil and gas licenses on public land and waters, and to develop targeted plans to strengthen afforestation and develop renewable energy on federal land and waters, doubling offshore wind energy by 2030.

On the day of taking office, Biden signed an executive order to cancel the license of keystone XL oil pipeline project, reflecting the energy policy of the new US government under his leadership. Next, Biden should continue to sign a series of executive orders to strengthen the response to climate change and promote clean energy development.

2. Attach importance to justice, environmental justice and environmental law enforcement

Biden attaches great importance to environmental justice and will promote the reform in the field of environmental justice. The "clean energy revolution and environmental justice plan" proposes to promote "environmental justice" in the future in the United States, so that polluters, including fossil fuel companies, can bear the environmental damage and compensate low-income communities.

Biden believes that the trump government has turned a blind eye to the pollution caused by large fossil energy enterprises, which has brought great harm to ethnic minorities, low-income families and other socially disadvantaged groups. Efforts should be made to solve this environmental injustice. Vice President Harris used to be the leader of environmental justice in the U.S. Senate. After Biden takes office, he will instruct the US Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of justice to pursue relevant cases to the maximum extent permitted by law, and seek additional legislation to pursue the personal responsibility of corporate executives when necessary. In addition, the Biden administration will establish a new Department of environment and climate justice in the Department of justice to complement the work of the Department of environment and natural resources, enhance the status of the Environmental Justice Department of the federal government, and promote it to play a more important role in environmental justice in the future.

In addition to paying attention to climate change and clean energy, Biden government will continue to strengthen environmental management in traditional areas such as water, atmosphere and land. For example, in the aspect of water environment management, in order to ensure that the community can obtain safe drinking water, Biden will put the construction of water infrastructure as the top priority, establish a monitoring system for lead and other pollutants in water supply, and take necessary actions to eliminate health risks, including investigating the responsibility of polluters and supporting the community to upgrade the system.

In biodiversity conservation, Biden also made an important commitment to protect 30% of the land and waters of the United States by 2030, so as to better improve the status quo of biodiversity conservation and slow down its extinction rate. Permanent protection of the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve and other areas, especially the federal land and waters damaged by economic development in recent years, protection of the natural wealth of the United States, establishment of national parks and monuments reflecting the natural heritage of the United States. Therefore, the United States will be more active in the global environmental position of biodiversity conservation.

In addition, in terms of ozone layer protection, Biden government will accept the Kigali amendment of Montreal Protocol to reduce the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons. Biden government will also pay attention to hot issues of global environmental governance such as marine plastic waste.

After Biden takes office, he may use the congressional review act to try to overturn Trump's decision and pay more attention to science before laws and regulations are amended. Biden may promote the status of scientific research in legislation by issuing executive orders or changing the personnel of relevant institutions. Biden will instruct all agencies to review and revise various laws and regulations issued during the trump administration by signing executive orders, and propose to repeal, amend and replace relevant laws and regulations through notification and comment procedures. Congress can also repeal or amend regulations through legislation signed by Biden. In terms of environmental law enforcement, it is likely to revoke the executive order on relaxing law enforcement actions issued during Trump's administration, and promote more law enforcement actions at the federal level.

3. Why did Biden government's environmental ideas and policies reverse?

On the whole, Biden administration will change trump administration's environmental policy of "light environmental protection and loose regulation" and adopt a more active environmental policy.

First, there is a lack of political consensus on environmental policy between the democratic and Republican parties in the United States. From the perspective of historical tradition, no matter from the perspective of global environmental governance or domestic environmental governance, the Democratic Party is more supportive of environmental protection policy than the Republican Party, more able to embody the ideas of environmentalists, and support more stringent environmental and natural resource management. On the other hand, the Republican party implements a relatively conservative policy on environmental protection. Its consistent concept of "small government" opposes excessive government intervention in environmental affairs.

Secondly, in American political life, public opinion is an indispensable part of democratic decision-making, especially in environmental politics. During Trump's administration, he withdrew from the Paris Agreement, relaxed a number of environmental regulations and other "anti environmental" measures, which aroused strong dissatisfaction from the Democratic Party and environmentalists from all walks of life. Biden's Democratic Party is more representative of the social elite, more believe in science, and hold a more positive attitude in the field of climate change and environmental protection. Biden will withdraw a series of Trump's environmental policies, reverse the status quo, fulfill his campaign promises in environmental protection, and give the public a satisfactory account.

In addition, Biden believes that the United States not only needs to shape a strong leadership role at home, but also needs to regain a strong leadership position with responsibility, respect and voice on the international stage. In the past four years, the trump administration has repeatedly stressed that "the United States is the priority" and has shown negative performance in environmental diplomacy such as climate change and biodiversity protection cooperation, which has severely damaged the leadership of the United States in the field of global environmental governance, hindered the process of global sustainable development and been condemned by the international community. After Biden takes office, he will take reshaping world leadership as an important national strategy, actively carry out environmental diplomacy, and fully integrate climate change into foreign policy and national security strategy.

The unique constitutional design of the separation of powers and federalism in the United States determines that any major policy is the result of compromise among various authorities, which means the sharing of decision-making power to some extent. Therefore, it is worth looking forward to how Biden's environmental policy will develop after he takes office and whether he can faithfully fulfill his campaign promises.

Setting: Research Center for environmental and economic policy, Ministry of ecological environment

Source: China Environment News