Despite the setback to climate legislation resulting from W.Va. Senator Joe Manchin’s intransigence, there’s still hope for climate action through the executive branch. After hearing of Sen. Manchin’s decision, President Biden promised to take “strong executive action” to combat climate change. Although Biden did not specify what executive actions he would take, he did state that they would be aimed at increasing jobs, improving the energy sector, and protecting consumers from rising gas prices.
A guideline from the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) has presented five key climate actions that President Biden can take right now using three emergency and defense framework statutes.
CBD suggests that Biden can halt crude oil exports; stop oil and gas drilling; restrict U.S. fossil fuel exports; advance renewable energy manufacturing and clean transportation technologies, and use FEMA to build resilient energy systems. If Biden can enact some or, better yet, all of these actions, through executive power, the administration will come closer to fulfilling its climate campaign promises.
But, time is running out for the Biden Administration to reach its climate goals. According to greenhouse gas projections by the Rhodium Group, which monitors emission policies, the United States is on track to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) by only 24 to 35 percent from 2005 levels by 2030. That projection, however, is far off from the Administration’s original goal of a 50 percent reduction in GHGs emissions.
If Joe Manchin supported the Democrats’ climate bill, analyses suggested that those climate policies could have reduced a billion tons of additional U.S. GHGs emissions. A large reduction of emissions that is, unfortunately, vetoed by the power of one “Democratic” senator.
Despite Manchin’s insistent attempts to fight back against climate action, the Biden administration still has an executive pathway forward to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase clean energy jobs, and decrease our reliance on fossil fuels.