Joe Biden’s Climate Policies Are a Step Back From “Death Wish.” But We Need More Than That.
So far the Biden administration's stated climate policies have shifted the US government from a stance of death-wish climate nihilism to one that resembles a typical center-right European government. But without a sharp move to the left on the economic aspects of climate transition, even that much progress won't materialize.
Joe Biden speaks during a campaign kickoff rally on May 18, 2019 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Drew Angerer / Getty Images)
On January 21, Joe Biden issued an executive order recommitting the United States to the Paris climate agreement and rescinding the construction permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline, moves that have been heralded throughout the media as the beginning of a new era for climate policy in the United States. But what are the real prospects for the transformative policies actually needed to combat climate change in the years ahead? What will Biden’s much-touted green jobs initiative do in practice? And how has the fossil fuel industry responded to Biden’s early moves?
The New Republic’s Kate Aronoff is coauthor of A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal, coeditor of We Own the Future: Democratic Socialism — American Style, and author of the forthcoming Overheated: How Capitalism Broke the Planet — and How We Fight Back. Jacobin spoke to Aronoff about Biden’s stimulus, his executive orders — and the broader landscape of climate policy in the Biden era.
Luke Savage
Let’s begin with the new administration. When it comes to things like Biden’s stimulus plan and some of his executive orders, there’s certainly an emerging narrative that the administration intends to be unusually progressive. On the environment, I think that’s largely been the case as well, with stuff like Biden’s decision to revoke a cross-border permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline fueling the idea that a very sharp turn is underway vis-à-vis environmental policy.
Kate Aronoff
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