White House press secretary Jen Psaki is set to hold a press briefing Wednesday with special presidential envoy for climate, John Kerry, and White House national climate adviser Gina McCarthy to preview the "aggressive action" President Biden is expected to take to address climate change.
Biden on Wednesday is set to take a number of executive actions focused on jobs, "equitable" clean energy and "restoring" scientific integrity across the federal government.
BIDEN CLIMATE CHANGE ORDER TO TELL FEDERAL AGENCIES TO ELIMINATE FOSSIL FUEL SUBSIDIES
The order will expand on his move last week to rejoin the Paris climate agreement. His review of "harmful rollbacks of standards" that protect air, water and communities is set to direct federal agencies to "eliminate fossil fuel subsidies as consistent with applicable law and identify new opportunities to spur innovation, commercialization, and deployment of clean energy technologies and infrastructure," the White House said.
Biden’s order on Wednesday is set to "empower" American workers and businesses to "lead a clean energy revolution" that would achieve a carbon pollution-free sector by 2035, while putting the U.S. on an "irreversible path to a net-zero economy by 2050."
BIDEN TO BAN NEW PERMITS FOR DRILLING ON FEDERAL LANDS, WATERS FOR ONE YEAR
The order, according to the White House, clearly establishes climate considerations as an "essential element" of U.S. foreign policy and national security.
The order affirms that the U.S. "will exercise its leadership to promote a significant increase in global ambition," while making clear that "both significant short-term global emission reductions and net-zero global emissions by mid-century—or before—are required to avoid setting the world on a dangerous, potentially catastrophic, climate trajectory."
Biden, last year, announced that Kerry, who served as former President Obama’s secretary of State, would serve as special presidential envoy for climate and will sit on the National Security Council — the first time that the NSC will include an official dedicated to climate change.
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