Biden on Climate: An America Full of Change
As we are less than 100 days to the US Election on 3rd November, PolisMedia will be releasing articles analyzing the major policy proposals of each candidate. Below is the first in the series, an overview of Joe Biden’s Climate Plan.
On the 14th of July, former Vice President and presumptive Democratic nominee for President Joe Biden delivered his long awaited climate policy speech. He committed himself to ensuring a future driven by the need to consider the impacts of climate change in all aspects of policy, whether it be in a return to America’s economic and international prowess, or by eradicating the generational injustices felt by minority (and frontline) communities as a result of climate change. When viewed in comparison to the Biden campaign’s original climate plan it is a fairly dramatic turn leftwards for the presumptive Democratic nominee, and comes after months-long collaboration between Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders’s campaign teams.
I began to research The Biden Plan to Build a Modern, Sustainable Infrastructure and an Equitable Clean Energy Future in order to analyse it for our series; however it is impossible to analyse Biden’s Climate Plan in a traditional way. The introduction of House Resolution 109 (Recognizing the Duty of the Federal Government to Create a Green New Deal), has utterly changed how politicians frame the fight surrounding climate change, a progression reflected in Mr. Biden’s plan. From the outset, the plan takes to heart this overarching idea of the GND: that climate change is not a stand alone individual issue, but a pervasive problem which affects all areas of American life, whether it be job creation, infrastructure, or systemic injustice towards minorities. Mainstream political America is awakening to the fact that climate change is not just about rising temperatures or polluted waters, it is a deeply intersectional issue and therefore combatting it must be the underlying guiding principle to all new pieces of legislation.
The opening of the speech drives home this point, with Biden emphasising job creation as integral to a new green economy. He promises “jobs to build and install a network of 500,000 charging stations,” and building renovation, usually a domain of straightlaced contractors, becomes imbued with environmental hope when Mr. Biden announces plans to “give four million buildings across this country…[an] energy makeover. It’s going to create at least one million jobs.” The most lauded aspect of his job creation plan, however, is his emphasis on carbon free jobs, an idea which was heavily pushed for by progressive Democrats. In the same breath, Mr. Biden both commits the US to a carbon pollution free electric sector by 2035, and an assurance that this transformation will bring with it “the greatest spurring of job creation… in the 21st century.”(speech). It is no coincidence that Biden’s climate plan was released tangentially to his flagship ‘Build Back Better’ campaign: the boosting of the economy and environmental awareness are not two separate issues.
By framing the fight surrounding climate change in this manner, Biden has managed to beat the right at their own game. Republican’s greatest weapon for dismantling green policies has been their insistence that it is not economically viable to be pro-environment. The Green New Deal was constructed in such a way to render this line of attack null: one of its five policy goals is the stipulation that bills which address climate change must also create jobs, and by adopting those measures, Biden has shown conservatives' favourite idea to be a categorical falsity. Creating an economically viable future that is green is not a compromise position, but rather the most effective way forward on both fronts. Failing to discredit environmental legislation economically, Republicans have increasingly broadened the scope of their attacks, by lambasting the progressive nature of climate reform, arguing that it is a thinly veiled attempt by the left to pivot America towards socialism. Biden’s language seems to anticipate this reactionary response, and he finishes his speech with a fiery piece of rhetoric, stating “This is all Donald Trump and the Republicans offer, backward looking policies that will harm the environment… It’s a mindset that doesn’t have any faith in the capacity of the American people.”
However, it is not just within the job sector that the interdisciplinary nature of Mr. Biden’s climate plan shines through. What is most notable about this re-released plan is the focusing of resources towards low-income and minority communities, who feel the effects of climate change at a disproportionate rate, an idea which has only begun to enter mainstream political discourse after years of activism by BAME environmentalists. His approach in this area is multifaceted, being applied via federally funded projects prioritizing community workforce agreements, ensuring fenceline communities receive 40% of the benefits from investments, and re-orienting the Rebuild America’s School Act towards low-income areas.
These ideas are actualisations of a theme he makes several returns to: America is at its best only if the American government is designed to serve and protect each and every American. The first step in remaking America into the world leader is not done through xenophobic protectionism, but by utilising our greatest resource, the American people. Legislating with the welfare of all individuals in mind is the easiest way to ensure our country is at the forefront of new green modernisation, whether that be by supporting business to turn away from traditional fossil fuel dependency or ensuring the communities that need the greatest help get if first, and receive it in an environmentally viable manner.
The importance of how climate change is framed here cannot be overstated, because if Biden is to be elected, his policy goals (if enacted) would ensure that Congress can no longer view the environment as an isolated issue. This of course is not an idea hatched by his campaign staff; activists have been preaching the intersectionality of climate change for years, and the Biden campaign had to be prodded in this direction by progressive environmentalists. Many have rightly debated over whether this is really something the Biden’s team takes to heart, or whether they have decided that acquiescing to their leftist base is just good politics. The fact remains, however, that this is a monumental shift for a candidate viewed by many as firmly affixed to an ideological centre, and hopefully it is a signal of a future where progressivism is not an outlier in American politics.
Bibliography
1) Representative Scott, Robert C., H.R.865 - Rebuild America's Schools Act of 2019. Introduced 30/1/2019. https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/865
2) Representative Ocasio-Cortez, Alexandra, H.Res.109 - Recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New Deal. Introduced 07/2/2019. https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/865
3) Pence, Michael, Remarks by Vice President Pence on the Dangers of Socialism. 17/7/2020. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-vice-president-pence-dangers-socialism/
4) Joe Biden Delivers Remarks on U.S. Economy. 9/07/2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTSzOAz8-h8
5) Joe Biden Climate Change Speech. 16/07/2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qxe_miyJj8Q
6) The Biden Campaign. The Biden Plan to Build a Modern, Sustainable Infrastructure and an Equitable Clean Energy Future. https://joebiden.com/clean-energy/
7) Biden Sanders Unity Task Force Recommendations https://joebiden.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/UNITY-TASK-FORCE-RECOMMENDATIONS.pdf
