On Wednesday, President Biden announced new climate initiatives outside a former coal plant in Massachusetts, calling climate change an “existential threat to our nation and to the world.” But the president failed to go all the way by refusing to invoke a climate emergency. An emergency declaration would offer numerous opportunities for the federal government to curb carbon emissions and address the climate impacts that are driving the planet’s warming. The president’s new executive orders mostly appear to prioritize clean energy development and improving building efficiency. Climate activists have demanded much more, calling on Biden to cut carbon emissions by ending fossil fuel use through the end of domestic fossil fuel subsidies and support overseas for fossil fuel projects and phase out incoming fossil fuel leases while imposing strict limits on tailpipe emissions, and tighter standards for permissible corporate emissions.
By Hannah Reynolds. The Nation. July 21, 2022.
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