We applaud the Biden administration for the historic, bold steps it announced today to tackle the climate crisis with the urgency it deserves and the government-wide action it needs. In taking a science-driven policy approach — one that puts job creation and environmental justice at its center — President Biden is putting the U.S. on a path toward long-term sustainable and equitable economic recovery.
The administration’s substantive, coordinated leadership to re-engage the U.S. on climate comes at a critical time and includes significant commitments, such as the intent to ratify the worldwide Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, develop a national finance climate plan, and procure zero-emission vehicles for government fleets. The administration also is rightfully centering its commitments on racial, social, and economic justice, which includes developing recommendations to direct federal investments so that 40% of the overall benefits flow to marginalized communities. These are just some of the important actions revealed in today’s announcement.
This is the decisive decade to take transformative action to keep global temperature rise below 1.5° C and avoid the worst impacts of a warming world. The wide-ranging actions by this administration reflect an understanding that we simply don’t have time to delay, and, frankly, that the U.S. needs to make up for a significant amount of lost ground from the past four years.
It’s invigorating to begin this year with such meaningful action on climate from the U.S. 2020, with the Covid-19 pandemic, its economic impacts, and movements for social and racial justice, laid bare our global interdependence. It also revealed the possibilities of what can be achieved when we recognize and appreciate the interconnected nature of the challenges we face and work together to pursue solutions aimed at creating a more just and healthy future for all people.
ClimateWorks believes deeply that when ambition, collaboration, and action come together, there is no problem too big to solve, including climate change. Today’s announcement from the Biden administration, coupled with last week’s Day One climate actions, possess these key ingredients, and will help push our world closer to ending the climate crisis. Much work remains to be done, but it is important to celebrate progress when it is being made. Today, progress was made.
