President Biden tweeted on Wednesday he wanted to tackle climate change and that he would address the “crisis” later on in the day.
He later signed two executive orders, one to tackle “Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad,” and the second created the “President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.” Climate change will also be elevated to a crisis level threat.
One of the points headlined by the first executive order states that the United States’ foreign policy and national security decisions will center around the “climate crisis.”
An official statement was released from the White House:
“President Biden set ambitious goals that will ensure America and the world can meet the urgent demands of the climate crisis, while empowering American workers and businesses to lead a clean energy revolution that achieves a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035 and puts the United States on an irreversible path to a net-zero economy by 2050. Today’s actions advance those goals and ensure that we are tapping into the talent, grit, and innovation of American workers, revitalizing the U.S. energy sector, conserving our natural resources and leveraging them to help drive our nation toward a clean energy future, creating well-paying jobs with the opportunity to join a union, and delivering justice for communities who have been subjected to environmental harm”
In a press conference, President Biden was accompanied by Vice President Kamala Harris, National Climate Advisor John Kerry, and the National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy to speak on his administration’s approach.
President Biden said, “It’s about coming to the moment to deal with this maximum threat that is now facing us, climate change, with a greater sense of urgency. “In my view, we’ve already waited too long to deal with this climate crisis and we can’t wait any longer. We see it with our own eyes, we feel it, we know it in our bones.”
He also ordered a pause on all new old and gas leases on public lands and offshore waters. President Biden’s plan is set to save at a minimum of 30% of land and water by 2030.
Kerry will now sit as President Biden’s personal presidential representative on the National Security Council.
Senator John Barrasso, the top Republican candidate on the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources said, Despite all the hot air from climate alarmists, banning new oil, gas, and coal leases on federal land and waters will do nothing to address climate change. Energy producers will simply go elsewhere – likely out of state or overseas.”