Joe Biden has done much in his first three years in office to combat catastrophic climate change through legislation, regulation, and diplomacy. any president in history. But Biden is well aware that much of this progress could be quickly undone if: public climate denier Donald Trump becomes president again.
As Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign begins in earnest, Mr. Biden is seeking key energy and climate policies to better serve middle-income consumers and businesses, as well as voters in battleground states where he hopes to win. The rules regarding fluctuations are being revised. In the process, he will need to develop climate regulatory and tax policies that will be more durable for consumers and the economy in the long run, while helping him win a second term.
Changing the rules for electric vehicle options is by far the most important climate and energy campaign issue facing Mr. Biden, and he won the election with a narrow margin of just a few thousand votes in just a few thousand key states. may affect the fate of
Last month, the government wisely announced its decision to revise the EPA’s overly stringent draft vehicle fuel economy and emissions standards. Two-thirds of all new cars should be fully electric By 2032, even if today it is still about Less than 10% of new cars All electric.The original rules didn’t match. Actual purchasing and production, sparking attacks from both Trump Republicans and some consumers. EV adoption is rapid but slightly slower than expected by GM, Ford, and other automakers. Reducing EV production From previously announced levels.
However, in revising these standards, the administration must increase transition options that provide range, convenience, and cost benefits to consumers to achieve maximum political benefit.
For example, plug-in hybrids are cheaper to buy than most all-electric EVs and address the “range anxiety” issue that many car buyers are concerned about, i.e., running out of power on the road without using electricity. It directly addresses the fear that this is the case. Hybrid vehicles have a backup gasoline engine, so use a nearby charging station. For many drivers, the new plug-ins can also be used for everyday transportation with rechargeable batteries, resulting in far lower emissions than gas-only vehicles. almost as low As an EV.Indeed, the plugin Just announced the greenest American car.
And for plug-in hybrids, Decrease in rare earth minerals than all-electric cars. This is a critical issue if the United States is to emerge from this problem. China’s dependence on mining and processing About these minerals.
As an economic and political matter, the White House will revise pending fuel efficiency regulations to ensure that vehicles like plug-in hybrids are better suited and that consumers will have more transition vehicle options over the next decade. You should be able to have it. This action is critical to changing the popular and political narrative about the transition to electric vehicles, from banning all electric vehicles only to Biden moving toward providing consumers with greater choice. be. Such changes would help reduce the urban-rural cultural divide around electric vehicles, undermining the negative EV culture war narrative that Trump and other Republicans are fomenting. right.
The Biden EPA also recently announced its intention to regulate emissions from existing and new coal-fired power plants and new gas-fired power plants, but not existing gas power plants. The delayed regulation of existing gas plants means they will not immediately face an obligation to capture their carbon emissions by 2040, but this is also a wise decision. That’s because such regulations would be intentionally misunderstood by Republicans and misunderstood by pre-election voters (and could be misunderstood by pre-election voters). Any event may be subject to litigation or parliamentary review that could undermine its validity). Addressing regulations on existing gas plants after Biden elects a second term is far more likely to succeed in reducing emissions by promulgating regulations that can withstand Congressional and legal challenges.
Finally, the administration’s recent decisions provide better conditions for important tax credits, especially for ethanol used as sustainable aviation fuel, so that ethanol can continue to play a role in reducing U.S. vehicle emissions. generally supports existing climate and emissions models. Additional decisions are still to come, but Biden will need to continue allowing ethanol to replace oil while benefiting battleground states like Wisconsin and key Democratic farm districts in the Midwest and Corn Belt.
Some of Mr. Biden’s recent actions are more symbolic than policy-driven.administration is very high questionable decision The suspension of LNG export licenses is aimed at the youth vote and overbearing climate change activists who threaten to publicly smear Mr. Biden’s superior climate credentials. But the Biden team has made mitigating methane emissions from U.S. natural gas a top priority. US gas has much lower lifecycle emissions According to most analyses, it outperforms coal as well as natural gas competitors like Russia. Far-left activists are ignoring this achievement, which will further reduce U.S. methane and overall greenhouse gas emissions in the coming years.
Assuming Biden is re-elected, he will need to continue pushing industry to reduce methane more aggressively, but will then use climate change to justify further U.S. gas exports. We should emphasize the role played by reducing This position is particularly important in Africa, which is a volatile gas-producing state. Pennsylvania.
Unfortunately, some Democratic politicians Bill to block US natural gas exports to ChinaDespite the fact that the alternative to US gas is high methane fugitive gas from Russian or Chinese coal under Vladimir Putin, where both carbon dioxide and methane emissions are high. This false proposal would actually increase global emissions rather than reduce them.
The presumptive basis for this bill is the false claim that domestic natural gas prices in the United States have increased in recent years due to increased exports. Indeed, over the past two years, gas prices in the US have fallen, even as US exports have helped lift Europe out of President Vladimir Putin’s gas addiction. remained lowThe extra production makes a difference.
More broadly, the U.S. political and climate community has yet to acknowledge the wisdom of Biden’s election-year climate and consumer energy shift. And of course, Trump’s reactionaries will falsely attack Biden’s thoughtful policies as symbols of the culture wars. But from both a climate and economic perspective, Biden’s efforts to respond to the concerns of consumers and voters will be the most responsible step forward. And they are also important to ensuring that Donald Trump’s scorched-earth policy never appears in the Oval Office again.
Paul Bledsoe is a professor at the Center for Environmental Policy at American University. He served on former President Bill Clinton’s staff in the U.S. House and Senate, as an Interior Department official, and as a member of the White House Climate Change Task Force.
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