President Joe Biden has been adamant that he has “practically” declared a climate emergency since taking office, doubling down on actions his administration has taken, including conserving more land, rejoining the Paris climate accord, and overseeing the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, among other things.
But lawmakers and climate activists say he needs to go further on climate, especially as temperatures in the United States continue to soar to blistering highs, threatening power grids and worsening wildfire risk in many parts of the country.
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As extreme conditions continue with little end in sight, here’s a look at what actions Biden could take on climate.
The National Emergencies Act
As president, Biden does have the power to declare a climate emergency under the National Emergencies Act, a 1976 federal law that would give him the authority to take additional actions to curb climate change, and in certain cases, circumvent Congress in making decisions such as unilaterally limiting drilling and fossil fuels.
This would likely be met with intense opposition from Republicans in Congress, but climate and environmental groups have been adamant that taking such a step is necessary to deal with the scale of current challenges.
“I refuse to accept that people choosing between burning alive and jumping into the ocean for hours on end is our new normal,” Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) told Politico. “This is a crisis and we need to treat it that way.”
“President Biden’s recent claim that he has ‘practically’ declared a climate emergency has renewed calls for him to actually do so,” the Los Angeles Times editorial board said in an op-ed this weekend. “And he should.”
Defense Production Act
Biden could also opt to use powers granted under the Defense Production Act to boost the manufacturing of renewable energy and clean energy technologies, relying on the same authorities used by former President Donald Trump to jump-start production of medical supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic.
But White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre insisted that Biden has prioritized clean energy manufacturing since “day one,” pointing last week to his use of the DPA to boost heat-pump manufacturing and build out the U.S. power grid.
Biden “has called it an emergency since day one,” she insisted, adding that he sees it as “an existential threat of his time.”
Inflation Reduction Act
Biden and his supporters have repeatedly pointed to the Inflation Reduction Act as a way of addressing the climate crisis and the emergencies it has created, albeit if somewhat indirectly.
But those in Hawaii, which saw the most deadly U.S. wildfire in modern history earlier this month, are urging him to do more.
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“The president and his Cabinet members often talk about the Inflation Reduction Act, the bipartisan infrastructure law as once-in-a-generation investments. And I think if that’s true, we are going to see a lot more Lahainas in the future,” Evan Weber, a co-founder of the Sunrise Movement, told Politico.
“But we also really need him to know that just being the greatest president on climate action in United States history is the lowest bar in the world to clear, and it is not the same as acting at the scale of what science and the reality of our people on the ground demands," he added.