The election of a Democratic president and Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress raised hopes among climate activists. In the summer and fall leading up to a historic meeting of the United Nations Convention of the Parties (COP), the major US environmental organizations and the president got behind a legislative strategy to win a transformative climate policy.

But as time wore on, and the president refused to use executive action to spur decarbonization, it appeared the quicksand of Washington politics would again doom any meaningful climate action. Climate activists were left to hold their breath for yet another round of international COP negotiations, where the largest historic emitter would again act more as a barrier than leader in the climate struggle.

I’m referring to president Barack Obama’s first term in 2009 — but I could just as easily be describing president Joe Biden in 2021. In 2009, the policy du jour was the Waxman-Markey “cap-and-trade” bill, which would have set up an emissions cap and emissions credit trading system. Today, the policy of the hour is the Clean Electricity Performance Program (CEPP), which we recently learned is likely dead due to the opposition of coal state senator Joe Manchin. While the planet is screaming that we need bold action, the White House press secretary is saying, “Compromise is not a dirty word.”