President Biden Sets Broad Climate And Environmental Policies

Introduction

During his campaign for president, then-candidate Biden called climate change an "existential threat" and urged policies that would achieve economy-wide net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 while boosting the American workforce and economy. On January 27, 2021, President Biden issued a pair of executive orders (EOs) and a presidential memorandum furthering those campaign promises. Across what he termed a "whole of government approach," the orders reengage the US in international climate policy discussions, incorporate climate change in national defense planning, pause and initiate a comprehensive review of fossil fuel permitting on federal lands, insulate federal scientists from political interference, and center environmental justice concerns in the federal response.