President-elect Joe Biden has not hidden that tackling climate change will be one of his top priorities. But to implement his platform to reduce global warming, he may find an unexpected ally: the Republicans.
Biden campaigned on the most ambitious climate agenda in history: one that included plans for pioneering green energy and infrastructure projects and proposals to tackle environmental racism. Much of its “Build Better” economic agenda is explicitly linked to climate-related policies.
Biden said he would enter the United States again in the Paris climate agreement on his first day in office and would prioritize undoing dozens of environmental regulatory reversals put in place by President Donald Trump – all via enforcement action.
But what will come after that will be the difficult part: trying to implement your climate agenda through legislation.
And that’s where he can find a partnership with Republicans on Capitol Hill.
While some in the Republican Party firmly deny that man-made climate change still exists, dozens of Republican lawmakers have recognized that the time has come to deal with the crisis and propose policies that have gained some degree of bipartisan traction.
None, however, has come close to the level of reform that Biden has proposed. As a result, his government will have to skillfully maneuver to balance the main progressive climate actions he has promised with his desire to achieve bipartisan solutions and promote political unity – something he has also promised.
Interviews with legislators from both parties and climate advocacy organizations at both ends of the political spectrum suggest that both parties’ appetite for climate change policy is strong, making the topic a likely, if unexpected, area for bipartisan cooperation under the new president.
Much of how Biden can deal with the issue remains tied up in two Senate run-off elections in Georgia next month. If Democrats win both, they gain control of the House and, with that, leadership positions on key climate-driven committees, which would give Biden an advantage in establishing the rules of the game. But if Democrats fail, Republicans will retain control of the Senate and, with it, the ability to present their own climate bills.
In any case, whatever the majority exists, it will be narrow, making bipartisan commitment, desired or unwanted, the only way to move forward in legislation.
“We see a great opportunity in this government,” said Quillian Robinson, a spokesman for the American Conservation Coalition, a nonprofit organization that advocates conservative solutions to climate change. “The divided government may seem to eliminate opportunities, but in reality, it is a chance for durable climate solutions, rather than just jumping from one executive order to another.”
Commitment opportunities
Biden promised to return to the Paris climate agreement, to sign executive orders limiting oil and gas drilling on public land and public waters, to raise gas mileage standards for vehicles and to block the construction of specific pipelines for fossil fuels. He can do all of this through executive actions.
Biden also pledged to pursue a 100 percent clean electricity standard by 2035 (a proposal that could mean the complete closure or renewal of all coal and gas plants in the U.S.) and asked the US for zero emissions by 2050 at the latest. He also proposed a $ 2 trillion investment in renewable energy projects, with 40% of the funds benefiting communities of color that have been damaged by pollutants. He may not find much Republican support for these ideas.
Biden made it clear, especially through his staffing choices, that he sees the topic as one that deserves a government-wide approach that uses Cabinet agencies like the Transport and Interior departments to help build a new green infrastructure and encourage the development of green energy sources, as well as getting the State Department, along with other international powers, to focus on climate policy and carbon emissions.
And it is in these areas – especially when it comes to investing and developing green energy sources, green technologies and green infrastructure – that he may end up finding common ground.
The Growing Climate Solutions Act, sponsored by Sens. Mike Braun, R-Ind., Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., Lindsey Graham, RS.C., and Sheldon Whitehouse, DR.I., focuses on capturing carbon technologies in the agricultural sector, while Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska and Whitehouse have drafted another bipartisan bill focused on increasing carbon capture methods that occur naturally in oceans and coastal ecosystems.
Earlier this year, House minority leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Began promoting a new conservative climate policy effort with seven of his Republican colleagues – destined to rival the progressive “Green New Deal” – including Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Tex., who introduced legislation called New Energy Frontier, focused on the development of carbon capture technologies.
“All of this needs to start with technological innovation,” said Crenshaw in an interview. Although Crenshaw said he is strongly opposed to returning to the United States in the Paris agreement and widely disagrees with large parts of Biden’s environmental plans, he is willing to work with the government on proposals that are part of his bill.
“I think we can agree on the policies that I have put forward,” he said.
Meanwhile, representatives David McKinley, RW.Va. and Kurt Schrader, D-Ore., proposed a 10-year public and private partnership to invest in clean energy and infrastructure and subsequent new regulations.
Some on the left criticized these proposals as being too narrow – many emphasize the contradiction between the promotion of technologies that sequester carbon from carbon-emitting plants and the elimination of these carbon-emitting plants – but there also seems to be ample room for agreements between Democrats.
Whitehouse, who has lent his name to several compromise bills in the Senate, said there is a great need for Democrats to essentially try anything, and everything, that can combat climate change.
Asked by NBC News whether the Biden government and its allies in Congress should prioritize the president-elect’s agenda or bipartisan commitment, Whitehouse replied, “Both.”
“The best result will be if we are aggressive and bipartisan at the same time,” wrote Whitehouse, who pushed for progressive climate change policies and also co-sponsored more modest bipartisan legislation, in an email to NBC News.
“Biden’s plan is broad enough to cover both, and we must pursue both. But to be successful, the government must first establish the conditions for victory, ”said Whitehouse. “
“Real bipartisanship is best achieved from a position of strength,” he added.
In a note, the Biden transition reiterated that the president-elect prioritized climate change and would implement his policies with “legislative and executive action”.
This strength mentioned by Whitehouse could be achieved by starting the government with a flood of executive actions on the climate, as Biden promised. But with a small majority in the House and the Senate almost divided, regardless of who wins the second round of Georgia, Biden will almost certainly have to keep another set of campaign promises he makes frequently: bipartisan cooperation.
Groups on both sides are ready for this.
“Yes, there will be obstruction from some Republicans, but I really believe that there will still be a lot of chances for bipartisanship in fighting climate change,” said Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club.
Brune pointed to clean energy standards, accelerating the development of new energy technologies, increasing American jobs in the green sector and saving consumers money on their energy bills as solid areas for consensus.
Conservative environmental groups have adopted the same tone, even praising some of Biden’s most ambitious proposals.
Robinson of the conservative American Conservation Coalition said that “incentives are really aligning both politically and economically”, making significant investment in green technologies and infrastructure more possible than ever.
Tom Steyer, the millionaire climate and democratic activist who ran for president for an ambitious environmental justice platform, also agreed, telling NBC News that “the country has changed on this issue”.
“I think the business community has changed very clearly; I think Republicans have changed,” said Steyer, who helped lead the 2020 Democrats’ climate conversation, but who is not currently working with the government on the issue.
“This is no longer a party issue,” he said.
But he also made it clear that Biden, having won the presidency after making climate change such an important part of his campaign, must define the terms of the conversation.
“We won the argument,” he said. “Now is the time, it is time to bring him home.”