Table of Contents
JANUARY 20, 2021
- Since being appointed President, Biden has already written to the UN requesting that the US rejoin the agreement.
CC WAS AMONG THEM
- Among the executive orders he signed last Wednesday, one of the most significant orders deals with climate change.
WAS ALSO PART OF ELECTION AGENDA
- US President Joe Biden announced an ambitious plan to tackle climate change – an important part of his election agenda.
- During his campaign for the presidential elections, Biden proposed a $2 trillion spending plan to deal with climate change that includes promoting clean energy and climate-friendly infrastructure.
PEW SURVEY
- As per a study published by the Pew Research Center in June 2020,
- over two-thirds of Americans think that the government should do more on climate change and about 63 per cent of Americans believe that climate change is affecting their local communities.
BIDEN’S PLAN FOR CC
- In November last year, Biden named John Kerry, who served as Secretary of State under former President Barack Obama and is one of the leading architects of the Paris Climate Agreement, as his special presidential envoy for climate change.
BIDEN’S PLAN FOR CC
- His appointment was seen as Biden’s commitment to keep his promise to work on climate change.
KERRY’S STATEMENT ON CC
- In his first address as the presidential climate envoy, Kerry said last week that “we really don’t have a minute to waste” and that “failure is not an option” when it comes to climate change.
KERRY’S STATEMENT ON CC
- He also spoke of the road ahead, which includes creating “millions of middle-class jobs” , improving the quality of air and improving the lives of citizens all over the world.
INCREASING CLEAN ENERGY EMPLOYMENT
- Significantly, one of the broad goals of the climate change agenda is to attain a steady growth in clean energy employment.
- In his first address, Kerry mentioned that in the US, over 3.3 million new workers have been put into clean energy jobs in the last five years and that India has seen a five-fold increase in clean energy jobs over the same period.
LATEST ORDER SIGNED BY BIDEN
- The order signed by Biden on Wednesday establishes climate considerations as an important part of US foreign policy and national security, which means understanding the effects of climate change on security and integrating climate considerations in international work.
KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE PROJECT CANCELLED
- The pipeline project was the proposed fourth phase of the Keystone Pipeline network between Canada and the US, which aims to cut short the distance between Alberta’s oil sands and the Texas Gulf Coast, where most of North America’s refineries are situated.
- The first three phases of the project are complete and carry 5.5 lakh barrels of oil every day from Canada to the US via a longer route.
KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE PROJECT MASS OPPOSITON
- Different groups opposed this project including environmentalists.
- They argued the pipeline would increase North America’s reliance on fossil fuels.
- Native Americans opposed it since they feared that the pipeline construction would affect water supplies upstream.
A LOT MORE CAN BE DONE
- Biden administration can reverse nearly 200 rollbacks initiated by the Trump administration. They include repealed light bulb efficiency standards for general service incandescent lamps, resuming payments to the Green Climate Fund.
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