HOME ABOUT US INITIATIVES REPORTS NEWS AND EVENTS TOPPING INTERNS DONATE President Biden Signs Executive Orders to Mark Sweeping Climate Action Home > Climate News > President Biden Signs Executive Orders to Mark Sweeping Climate Action Spriha Pandey | February 7, 2021 On January 27, 2021, President Joe Biden signed a series of executive orders aimed at tackling the climate crisis. Given the extensive nature of these orders, Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters called January 27 “the single biggest day for climate action in more than a decade.” The provisions of the orders range from curbing of greenhouse gas emissions in each industry to extensive job creation. The orders primarily aim to tackle emissions through changes in the electricity and transportation sectors calling for a carbon emission free energy sector by 2035 and zero-emission vehicles for federal, state, local, and tribal government fleets. The transportation sector accounts for the largest portion of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions at 28% while electric vehicles and cleaner hybrid car models make up only 2% of the U.S.’s vehicle fleet. President Biden also said that these directives would reserve 30 percent of federal land and water for conservation purposes by 2030. Presently, fossil fuel extraction on public lands accounts for almost a quarter of all US carbon dioxide emissions. This is an abrupt reversal of Trump administration policies that expanded the number of energy leases on environmentally sensitive public lands. The order further emphasizes that climate change will be a consideration in all national decisions. In the week preceding these orders, Biden also halted the construction of Keystone XL pipeline for transporting oil from Canada through the US. Another focus of the orders was on job creation. The executive actions aim to create “prevailing wage” employment and union jobs for workers to build 1.5 million new energy-efficient homes, to manufacture and install a half-million new electric-vehicle charging stations, and to seal off one million leaking oil and gas wells. Several Republican Senators spoke out against this proposition, saying that this is not sufficient to save American jobs. Economists such as David Popp rebuked the Senators’ criticism saying that environmental regulations typically result in a ‘net wash,’ meaning that jobs lost in polluting sectors often equal jobs created in clean energy and environmental mitigation. Climate News Search for: Subscribe Email address: First Name Last Name Contact Us 1225 New York Avenue, NW, Suite 800 Washington DC 20005 Phone: 202-552-0163 E-mail: info@climate.org Designed by WPlook Studio