United
States President Joe Biden is set to announce new executive actions on climate
change that are expected to address some concerns among his own Democratic
Party, but will fall short of fulfilling the demand to declare a federal
emergency.
Biden will
unveil the latest efforts during a visit on Wednesday to a former coal-fired
power plant in Somerset, Massachusetts, that is shifting to offshore wind
manufacturing. It is the embodiment of the transition to clean energy that
Biden is seeking but has struggled to realise in the first 18 months of his
presidency.
Wednesday’s
executive actions include new initiatives to bolster the domestic offshore wind
industry as well as efforts to help communities cope with soaring temperatures
through programmes administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and
the Department of Health and Human Services, The Associated Press reported,
citing a White House official.
The trip
comes as historic temperatures bake Europe and the United States. At least 60
million Americans could experience sweltering temperatures over the next
several days as cities around the US sweat through more intense and
longer-lasting heat waves that scientists have blamed on global warming.
The actions that
Biden will announce will not include a national emergency declaration to
address the climate crisis — something that has been sought by activists and
Democratic lawmakers after Senator Joe Manchin scuttled talks last week on a
long-delayed legislative package.
An emergency
declaration on climate would allow Biden to redirect federal resources to
bolster renewable energy programmes that would help accelerate the transition
away from fossil fuels. The declaration also could be used as a legal basis to
block oil and gas drilling or other projects, although such actions would
likely be challenged in court by energy companies or Republican-led states.
Biden
promised tough action on climate change in his presidential campaign and
pledged in international climate negotiations to cut climate pollution by 50
percent by 2030 and reach 100 percent clean electricity by 2035.
But that
climate agenda has been derailed by several major setbacks, including Congress
failing to pass crucial climate and clean energy measures in a federal budget
bill, record-setting petrol prices, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine disrupting
global energy markets.
A Supreme
Court ruling last month limiting the federal government’s authority to issue
sweeping regulations to reduce carbon emissions from power plants also is
undermining Biden’s climate plans.
White House
officials have said the option to declare a federal emergency remains under
consideration. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday declined to
outline a timetable for a decision aside from saying no such order would be
issued this week.
The US State
of Texas was under a heat advisory on Wednesday due to scorching weather.
Senator Ed
Markey said he was “confident that the president is ultimately ready to do
whatever it takes in order to deal with this crisis”.
“I think
that he’s made that clear in his statement last Friday, and I think coming to
Massachusetts is a further articulation of that goal,” Markey told reporters on
Tuesday.
The White
House has indicated it wants Congress to take that deal, and Biden will address
the climate issue on his own.
“I’m going
to use every power I have as president to continue to fulfil my pledge to move
toward dealing with global warming,” Biden told reporters during the weekend in
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, after the talks between Senate Majority Leader Chuck
Schumer and Manchin were derailed.
Biden on
Wednesday will be visiting the former Brayton Point power plant, which closed
in 2017 after burning coal for more than five decades. The plant will now
become an offshore wind manufacturing site.
A new report
says the US and other major carbon-polluting nations are falling short on
pledges to fight climate change. Among the 10 biggest carbon emitters, only the
European Union has enacted policies close to or consistent with international
goals of limiting warming to just a few more tenths of a degree, according to
scientists and experts who track climate action in countries.
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