A year later, take a quiz and see what has been accomplished in a hectic first year…

Biden’s Climate Plan

BIDEN’S CLIMATE PLAN

From coastal towns and rural farms to urban centers, climate change poses an existential threat – not just to our environment, but to our health, our communities, our national security, and our economic well-being. It also damages our communities with storms that wreak havoc on our towns and cities, and our homes and schools. It puts our national security at risk by leading to regional instability that will require U.S military-supported relief activities and could make areas more vulnerable to terrorist activities.

Joe Biden knows there is no greater challenge facing our country and our world. That’s why he is outlining a bold plan – a Clean Energy Revolution – to address this grave threat and lead the world in addressing the climate emergency.

Biden believes the Green New Deal is a crucial framework for meeting the climate challenges we face. It powerfully captures two basic truths, which are at the core of his plan: (1) the United States urgently needs to embrace greater ambition on an epic scale to meet the scope of this challenge, and (2) our environment and our economy are completely and totally connected.

SOURCE: JOEBIDEN.COM/CLIMATE-PLAN

Please go to LAWS & LITIGATION on this website where the three branches of government are covered. You will find information there –within LEGISLATIONEXECUTIVE and JUDICIAL on the CABINET he has assembled, the EXECUTIVE ORDERS he has issued, and more specific actions relating to both the outgoing Trump administration and the incoming Biden administration.

The Washington Post, much as it did for the Trump Administration, is keeping track of Biden’s environmental actions here.

Biden Plan for a Clean Energy Revolution & Environmental Justice | Joe Biden for President

CURRENT NEWS

Behind the Scenes, G7 Nations Wrangle Over Ambitious Climate Commitments

By Motoko Rich, Lisa Friedman and Jim Tankersley 05/20/23
In theory, the world’s largest industrialized democracies have agreed to stop using fossil fuels within a little over a quarter-century and to switch to new sources of power such as solar and wind as fast…
Read more

Biden administration to require more efficient window air conditioners, air cleaners

By Rachel Frazin 03/23/23
The Biden administration is finalizing more stringent efficiency requirements for both window air conditioners and portable air cleaners on Thursday, the first set of efficiency standards that are new and not just a reversal of…
Read more

EIA: U.S. carbon emissions set to drop, but miss Biden goals

By Zack Colman 03/20/23
U.S. greenhouse gas emissions are expected to drop sharply by the end of the decade but are likely to fall short of President Joe Biden’s goals for the power sector, the U.S. Energy Information Administration…
Read more

Biden budget includes $24 billion for conservation and climate disasters

By Emma Newburger 03/09/23
President Joe Biden’s budget proposal for 2024 includes billions of dollars spread across federal agencies to combat climate change, with a bulk of the investment going toward boosting conservation and disaster resilience, cutting pollution and…
Read more

Same message, bigger audience: Sen. Whitehouse flags climate costs

By Coral Davenport 03/07/23
For more than a decade, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse gave daily warnings about the mounting threat of climate change. Now he has a powerful new perch....
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The promise and peril of Biden’s climate policy

By Paul Krugman 03/02/23
In 2010, at the signing ceremony for the Affordable Care Act, Joe Biden, the vice president at the time, could be overheard telling President Barack Obama that “this is a big something deal.” OK, that’s…
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State of the Union: How climate and energy have featured since 1989

By Rosamund Pearce 02/07/23
Climate change hit the mainstream in the US after NASA scientist James Hansen told Congress in 1988 that the world was warmer and mankind was to blame.
Read more

With money on the table, states identify 120,000 leak-prone oil wells

By Maxine Joselow 12/02/22
Across the country, fossil fuel companies have walked away from thousands of oil and gas wells, leaving them unplugged and idle even as many of these drill sites leak greenhouse gas emissions and pose direct…
Read more

Dismal polls have Dems split over how hard to push Biden agenda

By Alexander Bolton 04/28/22
Democrats are divided over how hard to push President Biden’s agenda in the months remaining until Election Day, uncertain about how much risk to take on at a time when Biden’s approval rating is stuck…
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As Gas Prices Soar, Biden’s Climate Ambitions Sputter

By Coral Davenport 04/02/22
A year after he entered the White House with a vow that fighting global warming would be a driving priority for his administration, President Biden finds his climate agenda is mired in delay and faces…
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The Man Who Gobbed Up Earth

By Bill McKibben 03/29/22
Just as the Oscars were getting underway last night, the New York Times published a truly remarkable exposé that helps us understand the end of our planet’s climate system in helpful detail. Receipt-laden, it shows…
Read more

Inside Biden’s $5.8 trillion wish list

By Andrew Ross Sorkin, Jason Karaian, Stephen Gandel, Michael J. de la Merced, Lauren Hirsch and Ephrat Livni 03/29/22
President Biden proposed a $5.8 trillion annual budget yesterday, a request that reflects growing security and economic concerns at home and abroad. There are billions set aside to invest in police departments and the military,…
Read more

KEY RESOURCES

Clean Fuels & Products Shot™: Alternative Sources for Carbon-based Products

05/30/23
To significantly reduce the negative impacts of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) from carbon-based fuels and products critical to our way of life, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) launched the Clean Fuels & Products ShotTM.…

FACT SHEET: Biden Administration Releases Agency Climate Adaptation and Resilience Plans from Across Federal Government

10/07/21
The Biden-Harris Administration released plans developed by more than 20 federal agencies that outline the steps each agency will take to ensure their facilities and operations adapt to and are increasingly resilient to climate change…

FACT SHEET: Biden Administration Advances the Future of Sustainable Fuels in American Aviation

09/09/21
President Biden is taking steps to coordinate leadership and innovation across the federal government, aircraft manufacturers, airlines, fuel producers, airports, and non-governmental organizations to advance the use of cleaner and more sustainable fuels in American…

Tracking Biden’s environmental actions

02/05/21
After less than a month in office, President Biden has already made climate change a priority across the federal government and started working to overturn more than 100 environmental actions taken by the Trump administration.

MEMORANDUM: on Restoring Trust in Government Through Scientific Integrity and Evidence-Based Policymaking

01/27/21
Scientific and technological information, data, and evidence are central to the development and iterative improvement of sound policies, and to the delivery of equitable programs, across every area of government.

EXECUTIVE ORDER: on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science & Technology

01/27/21
As directed in the Presidential Memorandum of January 27, 2021 (Scientific Integrity and Evidence-Based Policymaking), it is the policy of my Administration to make evidence-based decisions guided by the best available science and data.

EXECUTIVE ORDER: on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad

01/27/21
The United States and the world face a profound climate crisis.  We have a narrow moment to pursue action at home and abroad in order to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of that crisis and…

Fact Sheet: President Biden Takes Executive Actions To Tackle The Climate Crisis At Home And Abroad

01/27/21
Today, President Biden will take executive action to tackle the climate crisis at home and abroad while creating good-paying union jobs and equitable clean energy future, building modern and sustainable infrastructure, restoring scientific integrity and…

THE BIDEN PLAN: For a Clean Energy Revolution And Environmental Justice

01/21/21
Joe Biden knows there is no greater challenge facing our country and our world. That’s why he is outlining a bold plan – a Clean Energy Revolution – to address this grave threat and lead…

EXECUTIVE ORDER: Protecting Public Health and Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle Climate Crisis

01/20/21
Our Nation has an abiding commitment to empower our workers and communities; promote and protect our public health and the environment; and conserve our national treasures and monuments, places that secure our national memory.

FACT SHEET: Listing Agency Actions for Review, in accordance with the following Executive Order: “Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis.”

01/20/21
This is a non-exclusive list of agency actions that heads of the relevant agencies will review in accordance with the Executive Order: “Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate…

STATEMENT: Accepting, on Behalf of the United States of America, the Paris Climate Agreement

01/20/21
I, Joseph R. Biden Jr., President of the United States of America, having seen and considered the Paris Agreement, done at Paris on December 12, 2015, do hereby accept the said Agreement and every article…

MORE NEWS

Sen. Jon Tester, one of the Senate’s only farmers, is an unlikely champion for climate action

By Maxine Joselow   03/24/22  
President Biden and European leaders are expected to announce a major initiative to direct shipments of liquefied natural gas to Europe, our colleagues scooped last night. More on that below. But first:
Read more

Largest federal utility chooses gas, undermining Biden’s climate goals

By Lisa Friedman   03/17/22  
President Biden wants electricity generated from wind, solar and other clean sources. The Tennessee Valley Authority plans to invest in fossil fuels instead.
Read more

Supreme court case could restrict Biden’s effort to tackle climate crisis

By Oliver Milman   02/24/22  
Court to hear West Virginia case that takes aim at EPA’s ability to issue strict rules to curb pollution from fossil fuel power stations.
Read more

The White House is going after one of climate change’s thorniest problems

By Robinson Meyer   02/16/22  
It is one of the strangest feelings that modern transportation can afford: You’ve just gotten on a train and are gazing out the window. And then, slowly, the scene outside begins to move, and for…
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Biden administration promises to buy ‘clean’ industrial materials

By Lisa Friedman   02/15/22  
A new initiative aims to reduce emissions from steel, cement, aluminum and other materials used in the industrial sector, which generates about a third of the nation’s greenhouse gases.
Read more

White House rolls out $5 billion funding plan to states for electric vehicle chargers

By Ground News   02/10/22  
The Biden administration on Thursday announced the availability of $5 billion in federal money to states over five years. Each station would need to have at least four fast-charger ports, which enable drivers to fully…
Read more

Scoop: Biden to extend, but modify, Trump’s solar tariffs

By Hans Nichols   02/07/22  
President Biden plans to maintain former President Trump's tariffs on solar cells and panels, but loosen some restrictions on importing supplies from Asia to help combat climate change, according to people familiar with the matter.
Read more

Biden’s Fed nominees questioned on climate issues at confirmation hearing

By Rachel Siegel   02/03/22  
Sarah Bloom Raskin, Lisa Cook and Philip Jefferson testified Thursday before the Senate Banking Committee
Read more

Biden’s focus on environmental justice led to a year of progress — and burnout

By Darryl Fears   01/27/22  
As he prepared to embark on “the most ambitious climate and environmental justice agenda ever pursued” in Washington, President Biden tapped one of the nation’s foremost experts on the topic to lead his historic effort.
Read more
VOX

Biden’s offshore wind plan is also a jobs plan

By Neel Dhanesha   01/19/22  
The United States’ struggling power grid is finally getting some major upgrades. Last week, the Biden administration announced a plan that, among other efforts, will aim to bring more sources of clean energy online and…
Read more

Biden names Sarah Bloom Raskin as Fed’s top banking regulator

By Courtenay Brown and others   01/14/22  
President Biden will nominate Sarah Bloom Raskin as the Federal Reserve's top Wall Street cop, a Biden administration official said, one of three nominees being unveiled for the critical open seats on the central bank's…
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One Year In: Tracking President Biden’s Progress on 46 Executive Climate Action Campaign P

By Lena Moffitt and Trevor Dolan   01/14/22  
President Joe Biden ran and won on the most comprehensive climate agenda of any presidential nominee in U.S. history—and pledged a suite of executive actions to leverage existing authorities to enact bold climate action. After…
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DOE Announces $420 Million to Advance Clean Energy Breakthroughs at Energy Research Centers Across America

01/13/22  
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced a $420 million funding opportunity for DOE’s Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC). This funding will advance climate solutions through early-stage research on clean energy technology, advanced and…
Read more

Biden administration to hire 1,000 workers for ‘Clean Energy Corps’

By Rachel Frazin   01/13/22  
The Biden administration is hoping to hire more than 1,000 workers to help with climate change solutions as part of a newly announced “Clean Energy Corps.” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a video announcing…
Read more

The Biden Administration Takes Action on Toxic Coal Ash Waste

By James Bruggers   01/12/22  
The Biden administration on Tuesday took its first significant move toward corralling lingering and widespread problems with the toxic ash produced by coal-fired power plants, one of the nation’s most prominent long-term environmental health legacies…
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DOE Invests $13.4 Million to Combat Plastic Waste, Reduce Plastic Industry Emissions

01/11/22  
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced $13.4 million in funding for next generation plastics technologies that reduce the energy consumption and carbon emissions of single-use plastics. The seven selected research and development (R&D)…
Read more

Biden ‘over-promised and under-delivered’ on climate

By Lisa Friedman   01/04/22  
As the new year opens, President Biden faces an increasingly narrow path to fulfill his ambitious goal of slashing the greenhouse gases generated by the United States that are helping to warm the planet to…
Read more

DOE Establishes New Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations Under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

12/21/21  
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced the establishment of the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, a new DOE office that will help deliver on President Biden’s bold climate agenda, create new, good-paying jobs…
Read more

New Biden rule reducing climate emissions from cars and SUVs reverses major Trump rollback

By Dino Grandoni , Faiz Siddiqui and Anna Phillips   12/20/21  
The Biden administration finalized a rule Monday to cut climate pollutants from new cars and light trucks, which will keep billions of tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere and change the kinds of…
Read more

Biden signals Build Back Better may be delayed until next year

By Steve Holland and Eric Beech   12/16/21  
U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday appeared to acknowledge that his Build Back Better spending bill may not pass Congress in the remaining weeks of this year, saying Democrats would seek to advance the legislation…
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The Achilles’ heel of Biden’s climate plan? Coal miners.

By Noam Scheiber   12/08/21  
Unions representing other workers affected by climate legislation have struck deals, but opposition from coal miners has persisted, complicating the path to enactment.
Read more

Biden wants to make federal government carbon neutral by 2050

By Anna Phillips   12/08/21  
White House to spend billions to buy electric vehicles, upgrade federal buildings and change how the government buys power.
Read more

Biden adds climate objective to National Space Council

By Timothy Cama   12/01/21  
The Biden administration is tasking the federal government’s National Space Council with a new focus on climate change.
Read more

Biden unveils new rules to curb methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from oil and gas operations

By Dino Grandoni and Steven Mufson   11/02/21  
The Biden administration also unveiled a sweeping set of domestic policies Tuesday to cut emissions of methane from oil and gas operations across the United States. The proposals, announced at the U.N. climate summit known…
Read more

Biden raises the stakes with the biggest gamble of his presidency for his agenda

By Matt Viser and Sean Sullivan   10/28/21  
President Biden entered a caucus meeting of Democrats early Thursday, told them he wanted to speak from the heart, and then made one of the biggest gambles of a career that spans nearly a half…
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In Your Facebook Feed: Oil Industry Pushback Against Biden Climate Plans

By Hiroko Tabuchi   10/27/21  
The ads appear on Facebook millions of times a week. They take aim at vulnerable Democrats in Congress by name, warning that the $3.5 trillion budget bill — one of the Biden administration’s biggest efforts…
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‘Long Overdue’: Liberal Voters Hold Firm to Biden’s Stronger Safety Net

By Trip Gabriel   10/27/21  
In the bluest congressional district in the Pacific Northwest, Democrats range from liberal to even more liberal. So as their party moves toward passing a watered-down version of President Biden’s domestic agenda, voters in Washington’s…
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Democrats likely to ditch U.S. methane fee amid opposition, sources say

By Jarrett Renshaw   10/27/21  
A Democratic proposal to impose a methane fee on U.S. oil and gas producers is not likely to be included in the party's massive spending bill in Congress amid opposition within its own ranks, two…
Read more

Where President Biden’s economic plan stands: From taxes to climate policy to Medicare to immigration

By Jeff Stein, Rachel Roubein and Marianna Sotomayor   10/22/21  
Even as negotiations over President Biden’s economic package continue, Democratic officials have started signaling which parts of the White House agenda could be cut from the legislation and which are likely to be approved.
Read more

US climate credibility in doubt as legislative wrangles go down to the wire

By Joe Lo   10/21/21  
Ten days before Cop26 climate talks, president Joe Biden’s climate policies are being blocked by coal state senator Joe Manchin, weakening his hand internationally
Read more

Major Climate Action at Stake in Fight Over Twin Bills Pending in Congress

By Brad Plumer and Winston Choi-Schagrin   10/15/21  
Legislation aimed at infrastructure and social programs also includes big changes in energy, transportation and disaster preparation. They would amount to the most significant climate action ever taken by the United States.
Read more
DOE

DOE Awards $20 Million to Help States Deploy Carbon Capture and Storage

10/15/21  
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced $20 million in funding to four projects working to accelerate the regional deployment of carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS). The projects, representing all four corners of…
Read more

DOE Invests $61 Million for Smart Buildings that Accelerate Grid Resilience

By Emily Holbrook   10/14/21  
The US Department of Energy (DOE) today announced $61 million for 10 pilot projects that will deploy new technology to transform thousands of homes and workplaces into state-of-the-art, energy-efficient buildings. These Connected Communities can interact…
Read more

Biden Administration Plans Wind Farms Along Nearly the Entire U.S. Coastline

By Coral Davenport   10/13/21  
The Biden administration announced on Wednesday a plan to develop large-scale wind farms along nearly the entire coastline of the United States, the first long-term strategy from the government to produce electricity from offshore turbines.
Read more

Biden reverses Trump cuts to monuments, restoring protection for key fossil sites

By April Reese   10/08/21  
In a long-awaited decision, President Joe Biden today restored Utah’s fossil-rich Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments to their former boundaries, 4 years after former President Donald Trump made drastic cuts to both.
Read more
EPA

EPA Releases Draft Strategic Plan to Address Climate Change and Advance Environmental Justice and Equity

10/01/21  
Today, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that its Draft Fiscal Year (FY) 2022-2026 EPA Strategic Plan has been published in the Federal Register and is available for public comment through November 12, 2021. The Strategic…
Read more

The International Energy Agency Aims for Net-Zero by 2024

By Tony Romm, Marianna Sotomayor, Mike DeBonis and Seung Min Kim   09/30/21  
House Democrats on Thursday delayed a vote on an approximately $1 trillion proposal to improve the nation’s infrastructure, a dramatic reversal after hours of negotiations that marked a major setback for President Biden’s economic agenda.
Read more

How Dems’ clean electricity plan would change utilities

By Peter Behr, Kristi E. Swartz   09/30/21  
The nation’s utility industry has never seen carrots and sticks the size of the grants and penalties aimed at delivering a zero-carbon grid transformation under congressional Democrats’ proposed Clean Electricity Performance Program. The CEPP is…
Read more

USDA pledges billions for climate-smart farm projects, resilience

By Marc Heller   09/29/21  
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said today he’ll use billions of dollars from a Depression-era agency to pay for a carbon-saving program for farms, and to help farmers prepare for drought and adverse weather associated with…
Read more

Some Chinese solar-panel manufacturers have stopped shipping to the U.S. over tariff concerns, installers say

By Jeanne Whalen   09/27/21  
Some Chinese solar-panel manufacturers have stopped sending panels to the United States, or are threatening to halt shipments, over regulatory concerns including a proposal for higher import tariffs, panel buyers and solar-energy developers said at…
Read more

Wheeler Warns Democrats Failing To Consider Renewable Energy Waste

By Suzanne Yohannan   09/27/21  
As Democrats struggle to reach agreement on an infrastructure package that includes billions of dollars in incentives for renewable energy, former EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler is warning they are failing to provide adequate solutions to…
Read more

Greenhouse gases in grocery freezers are more powerful than carbon

By Dino Grandoni   09/23/21  
The Biden administration finalized its first new climate rule Thursday, slashing the use of powerful greenhouse gases widely used in home refrigerators and air conditioners and often found to be leaking from U.S. supermarket freezers.
Read more

Critics blast Facebook pledge to curb climate change misinformation

By David Knowles   09/22/21  
Facebook's latest pledge to curb climate change disinformation on its platform is getting a skeptical reception from activists and industry watchdogs.
Read more

Biden to huddle with warring Democrats as economic agenda and $1 trillion infrastructure bill hang in the balance

By Tony Romm, Seung Min Kim, and Marianna Sotomayor   09/22/21  
President Biden is meeting with warring moderate and liberal Democrats on Wednesday as the White House attempts to broker a political truce and foster passage of roughly $4 trillion in new economic spending initiatives.
Read more

U.N. General Assembly: Biden Pledges to Work Toward ‘Peaceful, Prosperous Future For All’

09/21/21  
Covid-19 and climate change dominated the start of the General Assembly gathering. The U.N. secretary general warned that an increasingly divided world was “on the edge of an abyss.”
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9 questions about the Civilian Climate Corps, answered

By Tik Root   09/16/21  
A week after taking office, President Biden signed an executive order aimed at finding ways to combat climate change. Among the provisions was a directive to figure out how to establish the first-ever Civilian Climate Corps.
Read more

U.S. Climate Equity Office Debuts, But With a Tiny Budget

By Ariel Wittenberg, E&E News   09/13/21  
It aims to help communities become more resilient to climate change, particularly its health impacts
Read more

As the largest-ever U.S. climate bill inches forward, a lobbying frenzy ensues

By Steven Mufson and Tony Romm   09/13/21  
Biden and his deputies make the case for massive spending on climate action as fires and floods continue across the country
Read more

In Social Policy Bill, Businesses See a Lot to Like. They Oppose It.

By Jonathan Weisman   09/12/21  
Resistance to tax increases outweighs the appeal of a $3.5 trillion measure containing child care credits and other items that corporations embrace.
Read more

Biden administration sets goal of replacing all jet fuel with sustainable alternatives by 2050

By Ian Duncan   09/09/21  
The administration says boosting the use of fuels made from waste or plants could cut emissions from flying 20 percent by the end of the decade
Read more