President Joe Biden will sign a series of new executive orders Wednesday that will formally place a new national security focus on climate change and promote scientists’ work on the subject, the White House announced Wednesday morning.
“President Biden set ambitious goals that will ensure America and the world can meet the urgent demands of the climate crisis, while empowering American workers and businesses to lead a clean energy revolution that achieves a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035 and puts the United States on an irreversible path to a net-zero economy by 2050,” the official release from the White House reads.
CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA – DECEMBER 06: Democratic presidential candidate former U.S. Vice president Joe Biden (R) campaigns with former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (L) December 6, 2019 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Kerry announced his endorsement of Biden yesterday with the Iowa caucuses less than two months away. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
“Today’s actions advance those goals and ensure that we are tapping into the talent, grit, and innovation of American workers, revitalizing the U.S. energy sector, conserving our natural resources and leveraging them to help drive our nation toward a clean energy future, creating well-paying jobs with the opportunity to join a union, and delivering justice for communities who have been subjected to environmental harm,” it continued. (RELATED: Here’s What You Need To Know About Biden’s Climate Team)
The first order, titled “Tackling The Climate Crisis At Home And Abroad,” contains seven specific directives:
- Center the Climate Crisis in U.S. Foreign Policy and National Security Considerations
- Take a Whole-of-Government Approach to the Climate Crisis
- Leverage the Federal Government’s Footprint and Buying Power to Lead by Example
- Rebuild Our Infrastructure for a Sustainable Economy
- Advance Conservation, Agriculture, and Reforestation
- Revitalize Energy Communities
- Secure Environmental Justice and Spur Economic Opportunity
A second order will establish the “President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology,” and an additional presidential memorandum “directs agencies to make evidence-based decisions guided by the best available science and data.”
The full text of the orders were not published by press time.
Biden, as promised throughout his campaign, took several unprecedented steps focusing on climate change throughout the transition and upon being sworn into office. One of the first executive orders he signed brought the United States back into the Paris Climate Accord.
Additionally, he named former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate and gave him a seat on the National Security Council. He also created the White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy and tapped former Obama-era Environmental Protection Agency administrator Gina McCarthy to serve as the first National Climate Advisor.