Biden Will Face Major Limits To His Ambitious Climate Plans

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At a Saco, Maine, campaign rally for President Trump in September, a protester holding a sign detailing the effects of climate change on the Gulf of Maine (left) came face to face with Trump supporters who had different views.

Robert F. Bukaty/AP

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Robert F. Bukaty/AP

Environment And Energy Collaborative
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Biden could also have the U.S. rejoin the World Health Organization, which can help address public health risks from global warming. And he could use trade deals and other international agreements to pressure countries to reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions, drive clean energy technology or limit deforestation, for example.

Reaching across the aisle

Climate legislation would be more enduring than executive action but may prove far more difficult. Still, many expect Biden to try mightily, given that he has focused much of his political career on reaching across the aisle.

«I am bullish on the prospects for actually achieving something in the Congress on climate change in the next couple years,» says Scott Segal, a partner at the energy law and lobbying firm Bracewell, whose clients include fossil fuel companies.

For one thing, Segal points out that industry is moving toward a clean energy economy anyway. Pressured in part by consumer demand, a number of utilities have set their own zero-carbon goals, and some oil companies vow to invest more in renewables. A growing list of major companies, along with cities and states, are also setting aggressive targets for carbon neutrality.

«It’s not like the same level of blowback would occur, from an economic perspective, as might have been the case if we were discussing this 15 or 20 years ago,» he says.

Segal suggests there could be bipartisan agreement on things like batteries and energy storage, carbon capture and clean energy standards for motor vehicles.

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Biden’s climate plan calls for investing $2 trillion over four years on a wide range of environmental projects. Allies hope he can chip away at some of that in various spending bills and say some things should be an easy sell.

«Investing in renewables and energy efficiency generates more than twice as many jobs as investing in fossil fuels,» says Andrew Steer, president and CEO of the World Resources Institute.

Meanwhile, there’s something else that might continue to shift the political dynamic.

«Climate change will continue to get worse,» says Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club. «The impacts of climate change will become even more severe, even more clear, even more damaging.»

2020 is on track to be one of the hottest years on record, and that heat has helped fuel unprecedented wildfires and an unrelenting hurricane season. Climate scientists say a dramatic reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is needed soon to avoid even more catastrophic impacts.

Two-thirds of Americans — including a majority of Republicans — say they want the government to do more on climate change. The question is whether Biden can coax a divided Congress to heed that and finally take significant action.