Weighing in
Among the myriad of issues resting on the results of the ongoing and unpredictable US Presidental Election is the matter of climate change. Depending on who you ask, this is either a life or death circumstance or a choice between an immediate slide into climate change damnation under Trump or a more moderate and somewhat mitigated fall under Biden. Either way, it would be apt to say that the stakes have never been higher. On the balance is not only the commitment to change from America, the (historically) largest contributor of greenhouse gases but also the international reputation of the USA at a time when many experts say that American influence worldwide is on the decline.
To be sure, Biden has made some of the right noises in this regard. First and foremost, he has vowed to return America to the folds of the Paris Climate Accord. He has also vowed to compel other countries to make more ambitious targets to climate change. Biden even has an ambitious plan for getting the US to net-zero emissions and a hundred per cent clean energy economy no later than 2050. Of course, in keeping with his self-proclaimed stance of being a moderate centrist, Biden cannot definitively pick sides in the climate debate or he risks alienating not just the fossil fuel companies but also the American states and communities that rely on such industries. This is precisely why Biden's claims to making America fossil-fuel-free during the last of the three Presidental debates caused much panic in the moderate grouping of the Democratic Party that feels that such measures distance them from the common working American in such states. Biden later had to unequivocally state his position on the matter. While he clarified that he does indeed believe that fossil fuels have to eventually go all together, he plans to use the Obama-era policy of using natural gas as bridge to move away from more traditionally polluting fossil fuels. Furthermore and controversially, Biden has stated that he will not ban fracking in all US states. Fracking for natural gas is a risky and highly polluting method with major health and environmental consequences While it is true that USD 2 trillion climate plan commitment and net-zero by 2050 promise do look good, they don't automatically promise a workable solution to head-off the approaching disaster of uncontrolled climate change.
It must be emphasised that under the Obama administration, Biden oversaw the largest expansion in natural gas production in US history. He has repeatedly asserted that natural gas is important as a 'bridging fuel' to start moving away from traditional fossil fuels. Despite, overwhelming proof that natural gas is not quite as clean as it is billed, Biden has pushed onward, even maintaining close ties to the very same fossil-fuel industry that he apparently plans to eventually supplant.
All this should not distract from the fact that Biden is in a very real sense, the only candidate for those who think climate change is a serious threat. Not only does Trump no background in such efforts, but he has also been a vocal critic of climate change mitigation efforts for many years. Long before he was President, Donald Trump was quoted once as saying that climate change was a Chinese hoax to force US companies to be less competitive as they would be bogged down by regulations. Since taking office, he has yanked the US from the Paris Agreement and opened up more natural reserves for prospecting than any other President. All this while undermining the process of oversight and regulations that govern polluting activities in the US. As a populist 'economy' President, Trump does not see climate change as having a major policy bearing for his supporters. Four more years of Trump will undoubtedly push the US further away from its previous position as potentially leading the fight on climate change.
Nevertheless, let us also not forget that Biden on climate change is only the so-called 'lesser of two evils'. Much as the case with other policy issues, Joe Biden is not a fix to America's problems, he's a fix to Trumpian politics and all the change that this brand of politics has induced. Realistically, Biden is simply a return to an older style of politics where, yes, politicians act appropriately but also hide intent behind promises. Trump, for better or worse, is exactly as advertised. Therefore, electing Biden to office is only the beginning of any potential fix, a fix that looks all the more necessary for the US when one considers reports that claim that the US has lost atleast a record USD 46.6 billion in the last nine months as a result of climate change-induced disasters.
