President Biden's Trillion-Dollar Climate Action Plan

     President Biden has announced his goal of making America carbon-neutral by 2050, starting with the goal of cutting America's emissions in half by 2030. This has involved a whole-of-government approach in addition to collaboration with the private sector and nations around the world to combat the crisis of a generation.

     Executive actions taken include restoring environmental protections gutted by Donald Trump; halting the Keystone XL Pipeline; announcing a goal of protecting 30 percent of America's land in federal hands by 2030 while beginning the phaseout of coal on these lands; proposing halts to oil and gas exploration and fracking on this territory; restoring and strengthening America's car emissions standards; and more.

     The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, signed by President Biden on November 15th, 2021, includes nearly $150 billion in funding for climate-specific projects over the next eight years. From overhauling America's power grid to building a nationwide network of EVs to investing in clean public transit (including ferries and buses), environmental remediation, and climate resilience, this law will represent the second-largest investment in fighting climate change in history.

     The largest will be the Build Back Better Act, which includes a proposed $555 billion in funding to make clean cars and solar panels affordable for every American, make good on President Biden's plan to end deforestation, create a Civilian Climate Corps, and give 40 percent of these benefits and IIJA benefits related to climate (nearly $300 billion) to disadvantaged communities.

     Combined with President Biden's budget proposals, the pledges made at COP26, and funding announced by USAID, President Biden is on track to secure $800 billion in funding to fight climate change in two years. If we really want to meet the moment on climate change, I'm calling on President Biden to up this number to $1 trillion via legislation to codify his executive actions, including proposed comprehensive legislation addressing emissions caused by agriculture as well as research on carbon capture technology. If we can do this, America will be on the right track to meet its 2030 and 2050 goals. This will either be America's, and the world's, greatest failure or America's greatest success: now is the time we must demand the latter.