Biden鈥檚 big climate policy died. But that鈥檚 not the whole story.
America鈥檚聽political commentary about climate change has been rather gloomy recently.
Core parts of President Joe Biden鈥檚 climate聽plan聽have crumbled in the face of聽Washington political realities. This month,聽the lack of one key Senate vote in his own party forced the president聽to scrap a clean聽electricity聽proposal that supporters had described as essential for lowering the country鈥檚 greenhouse gas emissions.
Now that same lawmaker, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia,聽is reportedly opposing another climate component of the Build Back Better Act, this one involving fees on emissions of methane, a gas with even more planet-warming potential than the carbon that often leaks from gas and oil wells.聽聽
Why We Wrote This
When it comes to climate change, the recent media narrative has been about a U.S. failure to act. But federal action isn't dead, and many experts say progress is often energized from the bottom up.
Pundits have suggested that all of this threatens U.S. standing at a key international climate conference that opens next week, the COP26 gathering.聽Some聽advocates have questioned whether the American political system, and perhaps even democracy writ large, is equipped to deal with a global and existential climate crisis.聽
But that聽鈥渕ostly empty鈥澛爒ersion is not the only climate story these days, and many researchers, advocates, and policymakers say it鈥檚 important to recognize and build on the progress that is happening.聽Despite the consensus among scientists that faster and greater action is needed, these individuals caution against a rhetorical approach of panic and 鈥渓ast chance鈥� alarm. Indeed, they are finding strength and inspiration in bottom-up success stories, macro shifts in attitudes, and even the messy grappling of the political process itself.聽
鈥淭here is a lot of hard work going on,鈥� says Daniel Bresette, executive director of the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, an education and policy organization in Washington. 鈥淏ut it takes time to build a majority block of votes to pass legislation. There鈥檚 a way to look at that pessimistically and say, 鈥榃ell, the process isn鈥檛 working.鈥欌�澛�
Yet the only way climate action can happen, he says, is if enough people agree that it鈥檚 needed. 鈥淎nd that is happening 鈥� it鈥檚 OK to acknowledge that it might take a little bit of time.鈥澛�
That鈥檚 not to say he doesn鈥檛 feel time pressure. Mr. Bresette, like many involved in climate policy, believes that the longer governments and individuals聽take to lower greenhouse gas emissions, the greater the聽damage to Earth鈥檚 climate and the harder it聽will be to reverse it.聽A United Nations report released earlier this week found that countries鈥� current emissions promises fell short of avoiding the sort of climate change that would cause, in officials鈥� words, 鈥渆ndless suffering.鈥澛�
At the same time,聽he and others see climate movement, particularly outside of the federal legislative process. Municipalities across the United States have embraced significant climate action, from Dallas, which plans to become carbon neutral by 2050, to Los Angeles, which this summer began聽piloting聽electric school buses to transport students.聽
鈥淏elow the level of the state, there are all sorts of amazing things happening,鈥� Katharine Hayhoe, director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University, said on the podcast 鈥淐limate Pod鈥� recently. Dr. Hayhoe, author of the new book 鈥淪aving Us: A Climate Scientist鈥檚 Case for Hope,鈥� listed numerous local climate initiatives in Texas, from Houston鈥檚 climate action plan to the fact that Fort Hood is powered 43% by clean energy. 鈥淐hange is happening 鈥� I feel like if it can happen in Texas, it can happen everywhere. But as you can see, it is percolating up from the bottom. And what is going to be the last to change is our politics at the state and the national level.鈥�
Even still, 10聽U.S. states have passed legislation that commits to聽100% clean electricity by 2050 or sooner.聽This summer, Illinois became the first Midwest state聽in that camp,聽pledging to shift to聽carbon-free聽energy by 2045. Oregon aims for 2040.
Such actions, building in recent years, are one reason聽the U.S. has reduced greenhouse gas emissions some 20% compared with 2005 levels.聽聽聽
鈥淭here is a lot of progress in the states,鈥� says Chris Chyung, senior campaign manager at the Center for American Progress. 鈥淚 just keep pointing to them as a beacon, quite honestly. If we can鈥檛 get things done in a divided Congress, then we can definitely look toward the states to mitigate some of that. But at the same time, the states can鈥檛 do it all on their own.鈥澛犅�
The Biden administration agrees with this latter point. It has promised to use the full power of the presidency to fight climate change and has been integrating climate policy into various arms of government. Last week, for instance, it released new analyses on聽how climate change intersects with national security, foreign policy, and migration. It has taken steps to integrate climate analysis聽into financial decisions, from federal procurement to rules on private-sector retirement plans. The聽Securities and Exchange Commission is weighing a mandate for聽corporations to disclose their climate risks.聽
Significantly, climate legislation remains very much聽in play. Although much of the media focus聽over recent weeks聽has been on the disintegration of the Clean Electricity Performance Program,聽the president has said that he is committed to using the $150 billion that would have gone to that initiative for other climate action items that, according to reports, could go to聽efforts like聽climate-focused block grants to states聽and clean-energy tax incentives for consumers and industry.聽聽
鈥淭he loss of CEPP created a hole in our carbon reductions, and although there鈥檚 no one silver bullet that will fill that, it鈥檚 powerful that they are reallocating those funds to other climate programs,鈥� says Jamaal Raad, executive director of Evergreen Action, a climate action advocacy group.聽
Already, the Democratic spending bill has more than $200 billion worth of incentives for clean energy technologies, from aviation fuels to electric cars 鈥� with extra going to those made in the U.S.聽
This funding would come in addition to聽important climate efforts that have already received bipartisan support through the infrastructure bill passed by the Senate earlier this year, points out Sasha Mackler, director of the Energy Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center.聽聽
鈥淚t has some very monumental new programs representing the down payment on the development of the advanced technologies that we know we鈥檙e going to need to hit our net-zero targets,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t would really be a step change in the level of effort and investment by the federal government.鈥�
Examples from the infrastructure bill include $9.5 billion for clean hydrogen, $7.5 billion for electric vehicle charging, and $11.5 billion for low-carbon mass transit 鈥� plus other investments connected to offshore wind energy.
And these numbers, Mr. Mackler points out, are by no means hidden.
鈥淭hey are really climate-focused technology initiatives,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd that bill was passed in the Senate with a broadly bipartisan vote. It gives me encouragement that, when framed in the right way, a lot of climate policies are actually pretty popular. And that story gets missed.鈥�
This isn鈥檛 to say that all of these efforts are enough,聽he and others reiterate. More comprehensive actions will be needed, as scientists see global warming currently on track to result in聽devastating extreme weather events, sea level rise, food shortages, and other impacts.聽
But a number of recent studies have shown a growing American consensus on the importance of climate action. This week, an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found that 59% of Americans say the issue of climate change is very or extremely important to them, up from 49% who said the same thing in 2018.聽 聽
New research from the Climate Leadership Council, a bipartisan group that has long advocated for a price or tax on carbon, shows that many Americans support climate action as well 鈥� especially when those efforts are connected to labor force and economic progress.
In a poll released today, for instance, the group found that most Americans, across political lines, were in favor of what鈥檚 called a border carbon adjustment, a fee on imports connected to carbon pollution resulting from producing those goods. And more than 75% of respondents said they were willing to pay more for a product if they 鈥渒new it was made in America with less carbon pollution, and that paying more would help create jobs here by bringing more manufacturing and production back to America.鈥�
鈥淭here鈥檚 a narrative out there that voters want to do something on climate but they鈥檙e not willing to be part of the solution,鈥� says Greg Bertelsen, CEO of the Climate Leadership Council. 鈥淭hat view is an oversimplification. The fact is, Americans want climate policies that are effective at what they鈥檙e intended to do, which is lower emissions.鈥�
