How Biden and Kamala Harris could usher in a new era of climate diplomacy with the US leading upfront
It is no secret that Donald Trump's administration is not big on fighting climate change. One of the first things Trump did as he took office in January 2017 as the 45th President of the United States was to announce the withdrawal of the country from the landmark Paris Agreement. The Paris Agreement, signed in 2016 with respect to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, was an international agreement that saw 195 signatories deciding to act on climate change. The Paris Agreement, by far, is not nearly enough, but it was the biggest international step that had been taken at that point.
Needless to say, Trump's withdrawal of the United States hampered international climate change discussions. With a leading country -- in terms of economy and fossil fuel emissions -- reneging on its participation (which was signed by former President Barack Obama), a major influence in keeping other countries in check was also gone.
It is not just in terms of the Paris Agreement that the Trump administration has been anti-environment in its policy. During his administration, Trump has rolled back 68 environmental rules and regulations and an additional 32 rollbacks are in progress as of August 2020, according to a tracker from The New York Times. Many of the rollbacks as identified by The New York Times have been carried out by the Environmental Protection Agency, which repealed and replaced Obama-era emissions rules for powerplants and vehicles, weakened protections for more than half of the country's wetlands, and withdrew the legal justification for restricting mercury emissions from power plants. Meanwhile, the Interior Department has worked to open up more land for oil and gas leasing by cutting back protected areas and limiting wildlife protections.
In the Presidential elections this year, Trump and Mike Pence will be running against former Vice President Joe Biden and his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris. When Harris and Biden were running against each other to become the Democratic nominee for the Presidential elections, Harris had introduced her own climate plans. Biden, meanwhile, introduced an ambitious climate plan after he was announced as the incumbent Democratic candidate for the elections this year. Biden's climate blueprint was drafted in association with Senator Bernie Sanders and featured authors such as former Secretary of State John Kerry, Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Kathy Castor, and Conor Lamb, and more.
It is no wonder, then, that marine biologist and climate activist Dr Ayana Elizabeth Johnson tweeted, "This is a climate election. So so so much hangs in the balance."
IMPORTANT: @KamalaHarris is legit on climate! This is a climate election. So so so much hangs in the balance. 💚🌎 Here's a thread of climate/environment groups' statements on Sen. Harris as @JoeBiden's VP pick. Spoiler: They are very positive!! #VoteClimate #BidenHarris2020
— Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson (@ayanaeliza) August 12, 2020
Biden's announcement of Harris as his running mate has been met with positive responses across climate activists and related organizations. 350.org shared in their statement on the announcement, "Harris has demonstrated a solid understanding of the scale of the climate crisis through the plans she released last year in her bid for the President. We need strong voices for fossil fuel accountability at all levels, and Harris has made commitments we will hold her to. Her stance on polluter accountability and stopping handouts to the fossil fuel industry are at the top of the list for the climate voter. Harris’ recent Climate Equity Bill demonstrates her willingness to tackle environmental and racial injustice head-on and we applaud her prioritization of communities most impacted by the climate crisis."
The Climate Equity Bill was introduced by both Harris and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The climate legislation, which has been the subject of extensive community outreach by Harris and Ocasio-Cortez over the last year, would create an Office of Climate and Environmental Justice Accountability within the Office of Management and Budget and require the government to consider the impact of any environmental legislation or regulation on low-income communities. As California’s former attorney general, Harris was charged with protecting the state’s progressive environmental laws in the courts. Her biggest environmental victory, according to environmental groups, came in 2016 when a grand jury indicted Plains All-American Pipeline on criminal charges related to a 2015 oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara, according to Reuters.
What stands out about Harris' approach to fighting climate change is that she highlights environmental justice principles -- which aim to reverse the inequities that have seen poor and minority populations that bear the brunt of environmental pollution -- and holding polluters accountable -- one of the tenets that are in line with the latter is that Harris planned to end subsidies for the fossil fuel industry, which has long been a strong demand by climate activists. Harris' plan also includes massive investments in areas like drinking water infrastructure which will benefit low-income communities. Harris' plan also showed a path to a clean energy economy by 2045 which involved requiring all new buses, heavy-duty vehicles, and vehicle fleets to be zero-emission by 2030 and all vehicles to be 100 percent zero-emission by 2035. It would also require all new buildings to be carbon-neutral by 2030 and having a carbon-neutral electric grid by 2030.
Similarly, Biden-Sanders plan states that the country -- and the world -- must "achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible, and no later than 2050." To that end, the plan states that the Democrats are committed to eliminating carbon pollution from power plants by 2035 through technology-neutral standards for clean energy and energy efficiency. The plan also states the potential administration's intent to expand solar and wind energy development and aims to install 500 million solar panels, including eight million solar roofs and community solar energy systems, and 60,000 American-made wind turbines.
Given both Biden and Harris' formidable climate plans, the country can expect -- should the Democratic team win the election -- an administration that could make the strongest and most important moves to fight climate change. The United States' influence on other countries as a global power when it comes to climate diplomacy is not unwarranted. A 2019 study by Pew Research found that a median of 45% across the surveyed nations saw US power and influence as a major threat, up from 38% in the same countries during Trump’s first year as president in 2017 and 25% in 2013, during the administration of Barack Obama. Other studies have shown that the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement will negatively affect the efficacy of the implementation Paris Agreement and will curb the progress in meeting the targets of the agreement.
In an interview with MEA WorldWide (MEAWW), environmentalist and advisor to Michael Bloomberg, Carl Pope, said, "I think the climate sections of the Green New Deal are very likely to be largely implemented over the next four years," adding that the country would be in "pretty good shape if [Biden] can pull these elections off." He also added that Biden needs to take every regulation that Trump has promulgated, "He needs to tell the courts, we are not going to defend those regulations, we are withdrawing them. Please send them back to us and we will start over again from scratch." He says this "would undo most of Donald Trump's environmental devastation." Pope also sees a shift in climate diplomacy should Biden win the election and commit to his climate plan. He said, "I think India will follow if they see the United States joining the Europeans. I hope the Chinese will follow as well." The delay of the annual United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, gives a potential Biden administration the chance to show whether Biden and Harris are willing to put serious action into their climate policies.