The US media's announcement of Biden's victory is gratifying to those who are concerned about climate change. It is not difficult to see Biden's determination to lead the United States back to the Paris Agreement, whether it is from Obama's presidency, as vice president, who supervised the "Recovery Act" to achieve the largest single investment in clean energy in the history of the United States, or his speeches on climate change during the presidential election in recent months.

In fact, on the basis of four years of Trump's administration and the deviation of energy development direction, will the United States formally withdraw from the Paris Agreement and return to the "big family" of contracting parties to the agreement?

Experts believe that the new government will continue the position of the Democratic Party

Promoting the United States to become a clean energy superpower in the world

If the ever tacit understanding of Obama Biden's government has set a historic limit on carbon emissions in the United States, doubled the fuel economy standards for cars and trucks, and promoted the signing of a significant Paris Agreement by countries around the world, Biden will continue the Democratic Party's consistent stand in the face of climate change after Obama's election campaign Clean energy support and concerns about climate change are written into the leadership charter.

Aimee Barnes, a researcher at Columbia University's Center for global energy policy and a senior consultant at the California China Climate Research Institute, said in an interview with reporters, "Biden has made it clear that actively addressing climate change will be one of the core commitments of his tenure, and will incorporate climate change into the foreign policy and national security strategy of the United States. I believe that under the leadership of Biden's team, the position of the United States on international climate financing commitments will be relatively consistent with that of the Obama administration. "

"To achieve net zero emissions by 2050 and 100% clean energy by 2035, I hope these two goals will provide the basis for the development of a new national independent contribution (NDC)," Barnes said. The fact that the trump administration has not solved the current climate crisis facing the United States and the world at large means that we need not only to make up for the lost time, but also to redouble our efforts to reduce emissions. Objectively speaking, the United States has also lost the opportunity to develop a clean energy economy and continue to lead the way in the past period of time. "

Therefore, industry experts predict that making the United States a clean energy superpower in the world will be the next direction for Biden team. But to become a superpower, we must first become a world leader in clean energy technologies. According to US media reports, Biden will restart the mission innovation program once launched by the Obama administration. The initiative, launched by 23 countries and the European Union, aims to research, develop and deploy potential breakthrough technologies to accelerate clean energy innovation.

The United States withdrew from the program during Trump's administration. Biden said it would restart the program and promised to invest four times as much financial resources as initially promised, which would help universities and research institutions around the world innovate. At the same time, the plan will strive to set ambitious targets to bring about tangible R & D results, improve data transparency, strengthen cooperation with private sector entrepreneurs, and help other countries further enhance their R & D capabilities.

Promoting G20 countries to stop subsidizing high carbon projects

But it still has a place for fossil energy

The plan of the United States to return to the Paris Agreement and set a carbon neutral target is not just a simple statement of the Biden team's position, but the accurate data calculation results behind it.

He Jijiang, executive deputy director of the Research Center for energy transformation and social development, School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University, told reporters, "judging from Biden's key information, whether it is the calculation result of target emission reduction, or the implementation approach (focusing on traffic emission reduction, building emission reduction, advocating agricultural emission reduction), or promoting scientific research (focusing on carbon capture, energy storage technology, etc.) It is not an impractical slogan to go through detailed scientific deduction. The goal of carbon neutrality in 2050 advocated by Biden team is not an overnight plan, but a comprehensive and stable policy agenda, which takes into account the level of economic recovery, the balance of internal racial equality, class equality and external diplomatic relations. "

As a senior diplomat, Biden's vision of dealing with climate change is not just at home. He plans to push countries around the world to withdraw subsidies for fossil energy and to stop the G20 from funding overseas high-carbon projects.

In response, Barnes told reporters, "there has been a long-standing commitment within the G20 to remove fossil fuel subsidies. This goes back to 2009, when all G20 countries agreed to this goal, including the United States, as well as China, India and Russia. However, it is a pity that more than 10 years have passed since then, and little effect has been achieved in carrying out specific actions. However, in the future, the new government will have broad powers to guide international financial institutions to implement the policy of phasing out fossil fuel subsidies. At the same time, the government can also stop subsidies for high-carbon projects, such as the support of some investment institutions for these projects. "

Barnes said BlackRock, Inc., the largest listed investment management group in the United States, manages more than $7 trillion in assets, and also said that climate change has become a decisive factor in current investment. Investment projects with high carbon intensity (i.e., high carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP), such as steam coal, are often accompanied by relatively low carbon dioxide emissions

Investment projects with high carbon dioxide emissions are often accompanied by greater regulatory risks and loss of economic benefits. In terms of climate change, fossil fuel subsidies are beneficial not only to the economy, but also to the economy. So it's necessary for Biden to choose this move. "

Although the international level is actively promoting the withdrawal of relevant subsidies, the reporter noted that in the recent speech of Biden team, it still reserved a "place" for fossil energy. Biden believes that fossil fuels will still play a role in the transition to clean energy in the United States. Biden's attitude toward the two hot topics of shale oil and gas exploitation and oil export is very vague. He has no clear attitude towards oil export, but he has publicly said that he will not ban shale oil and gas development.

It is expected that current environmental policies and regulations will be tightened

Promote dialogue and cooperation between the United States and China among state, provincial and local governments

In 1986, 44 year old Biden proposed the first climate bill in the history of the United States Congress, which was called "the pioneer of climate change" by American media. Biden, who is about to turn 78, may have to tighten the loose environmental policies and regulations of the United States in the past four years.

According to the Sabin Center for climate change law research at Columbia University, trump has issued 164 regulations since his first day in office, urging the federal government to deregulate climate change. Among them, he issued a decree to restore keystone XL and Dakota access, two controversial oil pipelines previously blocked by the Obama administration. At the same time, the ban on offshore drilling in the Arctic region during Obama's term of office was lifted, and oil drilling activities in the previously closed off area of Beaufort Sea and the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve were approved.

What's more, during Trump's term, the EPA has handed over the least criminal anti pollution cases in 30 years to the Justice Department. The Biden team said that such an outcome would be tantamount to acquiescing some polluting enterprises to discharge without restraint, thus seriously aggravating the abuse of power. Biden said frankly that after taking office, he will instruct EPA and the Department of justice to hear relevant cases within the maximum scope allowed by law, and strengthen the supervision of enterprises involved.

In addition, Biden plans to build a more integrated energy grid from Mexico to Central America and Colombia, with special attention to the Caribbean region and the North Triangle region of Central America, promoting the local transition to clean energy, as well as adaptability and resilience to climate change.

"Biden said he would organize a global climate summit, and China is undoubtedly one of the main interlocutors. Although the U.S. - China relations have been somewhat strained in recent years, cooperation in the field of climate change has long been a bright spot in the bilateral relations between the United States and China. Recently, both China and Biden teams have announced carbon neutral targets. In my opinion, this is a rare opportunity for the United States and China to strengthen dialogue. In order to promote cooperation between the two countries, renewable energy, zero emission transportation, energy-saving construction and other fields are good windows. At the same time, the United States and China should continue to support dialogue and cooperation among state, provincial and local governments. For example, cooperation between the sister states of California and Jiangsu Province of China, and the friendly cities of New York and Beijing will further promote the process of global climate governance. " Barnes told reporters.

There are 68 days left before January 20, 2021, when the new president of the United States will take office. At that time, if Biden is successfully elected to the White House, whether he can fulfill his campaign promise and return to the Paris Agreement on the first day of taking office will be a key signal to measure the power of Biden's team, and also an important signal of the US federal government's attitude towards climate change. This signal has made people around the world looking forward to climate change for nearly four years. Although it has been a long time, it is still worth waiting for.

Source: China Environment News