During his presidential campaign, Joe Biden said that there were four crises America is facing right now: the pandemic, the economic crisis spurred by it, racial inequality, and climate change. Even during the height of the pandemic, Biden recognized that climate change was just as much of a crisis as the pandemic. This meant he was constantly making campaign promises claiming to fight climate change. But as we all know, many times campaign promises aren’t always kept. So has Joe Biden kept these promises and made climate change a top priority for his administration, or was it just a talking point during the election?  

Thankfully, it seems as if the president has been devoted to tackling climate change. For starters, on his very first day in office, he rejoined the Paris Climate Accord. With America back in the Paris Climate Accord, the country can work with other countries to help stop the issue. Biden understands climate change is too important for just one country to try to fix. We need the world to unite behind this common issue in order to make progress.

Biden also stopped the Keystone Pipeline and paused many oil and gas leases on public lands to review the permits and make sure the processes are safe for the environment. By stopping the construction of the Keystone Pipeline, he prevented sand tar, which is worse than crude oil, from affecting the environment. When sand tar leaks, it’s much harder for it to be noticed, making the effects horrible. After his first few days in office, Biden hasn’t forgotten about the project. 

In April, he hosted a large climate summit with world leaders. The summit included 40 world leaders. Similarly to the Paris Accord, this is huge because it gives other countries a chance to weigh in on the issue. 

Finally, a big part of Biden’s promises is building Green infrastructure — something that he has been working diligently on. He is currently pushing a giant infrastructure plan that will try to set up Green infrastructure and Green jobs but that may take forever to pass through Congress. 

With this plan unfolding, Biden recently tested the new electric Ford F-150 truck which in its promotion. If the Ford F-150 truck production switches from its current gas base to electricity, it will have an incredibly large impact on the automobile industry. Out of all of the vehicles in the U.S, this one will have the largest impact if it were to turn electric. It could potentially be the end of gas cars in America. This would greatly decrease the amount of pollution due to automobiles. 

Overall, Biden has been strong in combating the climate crisis thus far. But just because he has done well so far doesn’t mean the topic can drop down on the list of priorities. Biden will have to continue to focus on it every day to continue making progress, and hopefully, he will. 

Sources:

https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/News/biden-climate-change-activists-applauding-waiting/story?id=77240848 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-signs-executive-actions-climate-change/

https://www.nrdc.org/stories/what-keystone-pipeline