President Joe Biden aims to prove to the world this week that the U.S. has rejoined the international fight against climate change by vowing cuts in greenhouse gas emissions that are both ambitious and achievable. Whether those cuts will be either ambitious enough to reassure skeptical allies or achievable given myriad domestic obstacles is far from a sure thing.
“My biggest concern is execution,” said Dan Lashof, U.S. director of the World Resources Institute. “They actually have to get stuff built. The have to get money out the door. They have to get money spent well.”
The White House is seriously considering a pledge to slash emissions 50% by 2030 relative to 2005 levels. To achieve that target, the administration will rely on a foundation of domestic climate programs and policies, including investments in renewable power and electric vehicles, as well as regulations throttling greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, oil wells, and automobiles. While those limits were relaxed under Trump, the Biden administration is set to revive more stringent replacements.
The White House will frame its new pledge as a geopolitical necessity. In prepared remarks ahead of the summit, Secretary of State Antony Blinken plans to say that if the U.S. doesn’t catch up to China on climate change, it will “miss the chance to shape the world’s climate future in a way that reflects our interests and values, and we’ll lose out on countless jobs for the American people.” Over the weekend, the two superpowers issued a statement agreeing to work together to implement the goals of the Paris agreement.
Environmental groups have armed the administration with blueprints for reaching the U.S. carbon-cutting goal through federal policies, new laws, and local government action. Each offers a different road map, giving the Biden administration flexibility to take some routes and forgo others. But any of the given options will demand serious, sustained, dramatic action of the sort the country has been unable to muster for decades pas