Climate advocates are sounding the alarm ahead of Biden’s Tuesday State of the Union speech amid what they see as slow action on the climate crisis.
Now that President Joe Biden’s signature climate bill is effectively dead, and with little momentum in Congress to revive it, these groups are applying pressure at the start of what they say is a make-or-break year for climate action.
“It’s time to go faster,” Sam Ricketts, co-founder and co-director for climate group Evergreen Action, told CNN. “You’re going to need to see federal agencies to do things more aggressive, more climate-oriented than they’ve ever done before.”
Evergreen on Thursday is releasing a report, shared first with CNN, detailing specific actions it wants to see from the Biden administration to meet the President’s goal of cutting the country’s planet-warming emissions in half by 2030.
The group wants the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, fossil-fuel burning appliances and the industrial sector. It also wants to see new appliance efficiency standards from the Department of Energy. And it’s urging the Department of Interior to “do everything possible to end all new onshore and offshore leasing.”
Ricketts told CNN Evergreen is not pushing for increased executive action in lieu of Congressional action – they want both. As their report details, “multiple analyses have shown that these investments will need to be complemented by executive action if the US is going to reach this 2030 goal.”
“The job isn’t done; failure’s not an option,” Ricketts said.
Evergreen isn’t the only group that’s applying pressure ahead of the State of the Union.
Climate Power also shared first with CNN its plan to spend over $600,000 on new ads touting clean energy to run nationwide. The ads will run on several TV networks, stations and news websites, including CNN, MSNBC and Axios.
The Center for American Progress will release an analysis the average consumer could save hundreds of dollars a year on energy costs if the government invests significantly in renewables like wind and solar.
“It’s just connecting the dots for folks,” Lori Lodes, executive director of Climate Power told CNN. “We have a very narrow window if we’re going to lower emissions as much as we must. Because of all the advances in clean energy, it’s the cheapest energy source right now. And if we invest in it, it’s going to get cheaper.”
2022 is a decisive year
Biden began his presidency by promising to tackle the climate crisis.
In its first year, the administration introduced regulations to raise fuel mileage standards, phased out hydrofluorocarbons and passed a bipartisan infrastructure bill that included $7.5 billion for a network of electric-vehicle charging stations around the country.
But climate groups haven’t gotten what they really want: Major legislation.
Over $550 billion in climate and clean energy provisions were tucked into the Build Back Better Act, which is no longer being considered by the Senate. While some Senate Democrats are hopeful that a smaller, climate-central bill can be agreed on, there’s not much forward momentum in Congress.
With the clock running out for the 2022 midterms, climate advocates are getting nervous.
“Where we are right now as a climate movement is feeling pretty panicked, I would say,” Christy Goldfuss, senior vice president for Energy and Environment Policy at the Center for American Progress told CNN.
While all advocates CNN spoke to said strong administrative action is important, Goldfuss and others stressed Congress should pass significant investments in clean energy, especially $320 billion worth of clean energy tax credits in Biden’s bill, to help pave the way for regulation. They said Biden’s infrastructure bill, while a starting point, is not the whole ballgame.
Build Back Better’s climate commitments are “also what’s going to help the average household and business in their bottom line,” said Ryan Fitzpatrick, director of the Climate and Energy Program at center-left think tank Third Way. “We need to make sure we follow through with the second part of the agenda.”
As a new geopolitical crisis unfolds in Europe with potential repercussions for rising gas prices, other climate groups told CNN Biden and Congressional Democrats can’t lose focus on passing clean energy provisions to help Americans transition away from fossil fuels.
“We need to see the White House and climate champions in Congress really make the case for investing in renewables at home now, as an answer to the fossil fuel fluctuations we see every decade, basically,” said Goldfuss. “What we’re seeing now that we’re facing inflation is just how important those climate investments are in driving down energy costs.”
The courts pose another potential roadblock for the administration. Republican attorneys general have already sued to block some of Biden’s climate initiatives, and the administration is facing a major US Supreme Court case over power plant emissions regulations – even though it has not yet implemented its own power plant rules.
Ricketts said that even with a tough legal landscape, Biden’s agencies should forge ahead with bold steps to bring down carbon emissions dramatically.
“The administration can only do what the administration can do,” Ricketts said. “They can’t and should not anticipate future roadblocks and use those as excuses not to do something. They’ve got to use every tool they’ve got access to.”
