Biden: We need to act on climate change

SOMERSET, US: President Joe Biden, thwarted by politicians and the Supreme Court, sought Wednesday to revive his ambitions to tackle climate change as heatwaves batter the US and Europe.

Rocketing summer temperatures have highlighted the growing threat, with 100 million people in the US currently under excessive heat alerts and devastatingly hot conditions causing misery across Europe.

“Climate change … is literally, not figuratively, a clear and present danger,” Mr Biden said, announcing executive actions including $2.3bn ($3.3bn) in investments to help build US infrastructure to withstand climate disasters.

“The health of our citizens and our communities is literally at stake … Our national security is at stake as well … And our economy is at risk. So we have to act.”

Mr Biden, delivering a speech at a former coal-fired electricity plant in Massachusetts, said his administration would do whatever was necessary, with or without Congress on board.

“Congress is not acting as it should … This is an emergency and I will look at it that way. As president, I’ll use my executive powers to combat the climate crisis,” he said.

But he stopped short of declaring a formal climate emergency, which would grant him additional policy powers. Upon his return home, when asked about the emergency designation, Mr Biden said: “I will make that decision soon.”

Mr Biden began his term last year promising to fulfil campaign pledges to tackle the global climate crisis, but his agenda has faced blow after blow.

His first day in office, Mr Biden signed an executive order to bring the US back into the Paris climate agreement, followed later by an ambitious announcement that he was targeting a 50-52 per cent reduction from 2005 levels in US net greenhouse gas pollution by 2030.

But his signature Build Back Better legislation, which would have included $550bn for clean energy and other climate initiatives, is all but dead after failing to receive backing in Congress.

And last month, the conservative-leaning Supreme Court ruled the Environmental Protection Agency cannot issue broad greenhouse gas regulations without congressional approval.

“When it comes to fighting climate change, I will not take ‘no’ for an answer,” he said.