Newly elected president Joe Biden reinstated the US to the Paris Agreement just hours after entering his office.
Furthermore, his administration rolled out a three dozen executive orders aimed at tackling the climate crisis.
Biden’s climate pledge
In his inauguration speech Mr Biden said America needed to respond to climate change. The change in direction was immediate. On the White House website a new list of priorities puts the climate crisis second, only behind the Covid-19 pandemic. As states BBC, all previous mentions of climate on the White House website were dated from 2017.
“Just like we need a unified national response to Covid-19, we desperately need a unified national response to the climate crisis because there is a climate crisis”
President Joe Biden
What does it mean for climate?
Though the executive orders and memorandum cannot go as far as congressional legislation in combating climate change, Mr Biden is using his presidential powers to make climate change a central issue of his administration. And even more – to attract the world’s attention to the topic.
As the US is the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, Biden’s commitments give a hope that we have a chance to reverse climate change.