MEMO: President Biden is the one who can deliver the climate wins we need

-SIERRA CLUB FEDERAL POLICY TEAM

As negotiations on the climate, care, jobs and justice priorities in the Build Back Better Act reach their conclusion, it’s clear that President Biden is the key player who is positioned to bring his agenda across the finish line. Biden campaigned and won on this agenda, and now environmental, family, and justice advocates and communities nationwide are counting on him to deliver. 

The time for action is now. Majority Leader Schumer and Speaker of the House Pelosi have done a tremendous job leading the way, with 99% of congressional Democrats in support of the Build Back Better Act’s historic climate investments. Now it is down to two senators -- and the President is the only one who can finish the job. 

We have no time to waste as our communities face intensifying storms, fires, droughts, heat waves, and floods. 

THE GLOBAL CLOCK IS TICKING: WE MUST DELIVER AT GLASGOW:

We have no time to waste as President Biden heads to Glasgow in less than three weeks for the U.N. global climate summit. There, the world will be watching to see if President Biden delivers on his international commitment to cut climate pollution in half by 2030. This is a historic opportunity for President Biden to make clear that the U.S. is ready for global climate cooperation and leadership, enabling him to advocate for a serious global effort to cut emissions and fight for a livable future for all while inspiring other nations to do the same.

• Climate negotiations in Glasgow must be a success. The latest IPCC science report reveals that the extreme weather events we’re already experiencing -- including historic droughts and floods, superstorms, record-breaking wildfires, and unprecedented coastal flooding -- will continue to rapidly worsen unless the world cuts all climate pollution in half by 2030 and invests in clean energy solutions that completely end all climate pollution by 2050. 

• Without a final Build Back Better Act deal that includes transformational climate investments, the United States would lose an important opportunity on the world stage at COP26. A failure to deliver would run the risk of international negotiations going south, which carries grave threats for our communities. President Biden needs to deliver in the next three weeks to honor his international climate commitments and to give the international climate talks -- and our children’s future -- a fighting chance. 

10 YEAR CLIMATE POLICY IS CRITICAL FOR PASSING THE “CLIMATE TEST”

Passing the climate test means achieving President Biden’s goal of cutting climate pollution in half by 2030, while creating good union jobs and building a more equitable economy. 

• Concretely, that means fully funding a decade of clean energy tax credits and a 10-year Clean Electricity Performance Program, two of the drivers of significant emissions reductions. 

• Any effort to reduce the full 10 years of funding for these programs would not merely amount to an incremental loss of climate ambition, but would jeopardize the entirety of these programs, imperiling President Biden’s international climate commitments. Falling short of the 10 years of funding would weaken the essential market signals we must send to electric utilities, consumers, investors, and governments to expedite the clean energy transition.

• A robust, 10-year tax credit package is necessary to cut power sector emissions by up to 73% by 2030 in order to meet President Biden’s climate commitments, based on recent modeling. The decade-long tax credits would ensure certainty for developers and investors, while providing a predictable runway for domestic and responsibly sourced global supply chains to scale up to meet demand.

• American jobs: Jobs are also at stake. The U.S. saw a dip in clean energy jobs due to the pandemic, but a new set of clean energy tax incentives could help spur job creation to the tune of up to 600,000 per year for a decade.  

ADDITIONAL ESSENTIAL INVESTMENTS TO MEET THE “CLIMATE TEST”
A CEPP and Clean Energy tax credits are major drivers of emissions reductions, but additional investments in clean transportation, buildings retrofits, lands protection, clean energy, industrial decarbonization, and regenerative agriculture are essential to deliver 60% of the Build Back Better Act’s emissions reductions potential, according to an analysis by Majority Leader Schumer. 

• Meeting the climate test requires expanding access to union-built electric vehicles and clean public transit. 

• It means retrofitting our homes and schools to cut pollution while building healthier living and learning environments. 

• It means creating a Civilian Climate Corps to create good jobs while protecting our public lands.

• It means eliminating all fossil fuel subsidies, ending handouts to corporate polluters. 

• It means investing in urban communities through the USDA Urban and Community Forestry program to expand tree canopy cover within the U.S. Cities, which will decrease deaths due to urban heat islands within cities that especially impact our most vulnerable populations including the elderly, children, and the economically and agriculturally underserved.  

• It means protecting and monitoring mature and old growth forests, which store large amounts of carbon and act as natural carbon sinks as well mitigate the impacts of air and water pollution. 

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND HEALTHY COMMUNITIES

• The Build Back Better Act also must deliver bold investments in environmental justice to redress the devastating health and economic impacts of toxic pollution, primarily in Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities. 

• That includes replacing lead pipes across the country, building healthy ports, investing directly in communities impacted by environmental justice, strengthening community engagement under the National Environmental Policy Act, restoring protections for the Arctic refuge, Saving Oak Flat, and cleaning up Superfund and other polluted sites.

PRESIDENT BIDEN IS THE ONE WHO CAN MAKE THIS HAPPEN:

To President Biden, we say: thank you for leading an agenda to truly Build Back Better. We are looking to you to get this historic legislation across the finish line. 

We are looking to you to walk into the U.N. global climate talks in less than three weeks with historic climate investments in your briefcase. 

We are looking to you to finish strong. For a more livable climate. For a more just economy. For the health and safety of our communities. For our ability to thrive now and in the future. The ripple effects would be felt around the world.

Let’s get it done!