A BREAKTHROUGH? MAY BE… getting such a vigorous plan won’t be easy to pass the senate, but one of the biggest opportunities that the president has could be a bipartisan bill that aims at creating a carbon tax to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This is an idea that already has backing from many conservatives and progressive business leaders who are deeply concerned about the climate. A proposal from the Climate Leadership Council based in Washington D.C. suggests that taking things slowly at first and progressing as we head into the future; that is, starting with a modest U.S. $40-per-tonne tax on carbon dioxide emissions and later increasing the amount over time. The proceeds would then be given back to the taxpayers. Since the Democrats have a strong footing in the Senate, following the Georgia runoffs, such legislation would not be impossible to pass the chamber. But, regardless of what happens in Congress, the president has the power to do as he wishes. He could exercise his executive power and enforce his climate agendas across the country’s agencies. Let’s take an example; if the president wishes, he could instruct the Department of Energy to raise the energy-efficiency standards for appliances or order the Interior Department to hasten the processing of the Federal permits to build any infrastructure that supports renewable energy. “There’s no need for Biden to wait,” says Tim Profeta, who leads Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions in Durham, North Carolina. “There’s a lot the president can do using his own authority, starting from day one.” One of the most authoritative powers that the president has right now when it comes to the issue of climate change is regulating greenhouse gas emissions directly through the EPA. Since 2017, when President Trump took over the government most of the work that he did in regards to the EPA was to reverse most of the environmental regulations Including the Trio Obama-era climate policies that were aimed at curtailing emissions from vehicle power plants in oil and gas facilities. It seems that right now what Biden will do is immediately move to restore order and strengthen the efforts by EPA and starting over or maybe 18
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making new rules similar to the rules of Trio Obama-era. Looking ahead it’s a positive thing that the Biden administration has already started implementing its climate agenda by integrating the country into the Paris climate agreement. LOOKING FORWARD Rejoining the Paris agreement seems to be the easy part, now what remains is Biden’s plan on his climate pledge which he’ll then present at this year’s conference in Glasgow. Remember under Obama’s administration, States had initially committed to cut the greenhouse gas emissions by at least 26% below the 2005 levels by the year 2025. The new challenge right now is making sure that the United States pledge is both strong and credible. This is according to Joseph Aldy, an economist at Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts. According to Joseph, the United States government has already lost credibility on many fronts as a result of the rollbacks from Trump’s administration. He adds that if Biden wants to take a leadership role in the Paris process and maybe persuade other countries to do the same he will need to do extra in terms of convincing the global community that any of his climate agenda will be effective and will not be easily reversed in maybe 4 to 8 years to come. “Our counterparts around the world will be looking very closely at what we are doing.” The Paris agreement is not the only thing that Biden has to worry about. Remember right now the country is so polarized and rallying this polarized population to be behind his climate agenda will not be an easy task. In short, Biden faces an uphill task. However, he is an experienced Negotiator which puts him in a very unique position to negotiate his way through the political aisle in the Senate. References; https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03250-z https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/ world-news/biden-takes-steps-to-put-us-on-irreversiblepath-to-net-zero-economy-by-2050/articleshow/80483828. cms?from=mdr
THE POWER IS NOW MAGAZINE | APRIL 2021
