Climate envoy John Kerry suggested Thursday that the White House can lean on executive orders to achieve President Joe Biden’s aggressive new target of cutting U.S. emissions 50% to 52% by 2030.
Kerry was asked at the White House press briefing how the U.S. pledge, submitted to the United Nations as part of the Paris Agreement, is credible with so much Republican opposition to it.
“A lot of the plan is executable through executive order,” Kerry responded.
BIDEN SETS TARGET OF CUTTING US EMISSIONS UP TO 52% BY 2030 BUT WON’T DETAIL HOW TO GET THERE
Kerry’s comments downplaying the need for new legislation contradicts the views of other Biden administration officials, who have acknowledged the need for help from Congress.
To make his goal achievable, Biden would almost certainly need Congress to pass, in some form, his $2.3 trillion infrastructure and climate spending proposal, which would extend and expand tax subsidies for clean energy technologies, provide rebates for consumers to buy electric vehicles, and mandate utilities use entirely carbon-free electricity by 2035.
However, passing the package as written is far from certain, and owing to that, the administration is claiming it has “multiple pathways” to reach its goal, including by using executive actions to impose stricter pollution controls over the auto and power sectors.
Biden’s target for a 50% to 52% cut in emissions by 2030 from 2005 levels, unveiled at his two-day climate summit with world leaders Thursday morning, essentially doubles the Obama administration’s original pledge.
Kerry, in addition to touting the use of executive action, argued the new target is protected from being disavowed by future administrations because other countries, along with the U.S. private sector, are already moving to clean energy and electric vehicles. He predicted the United States could even “exceed” its new target if there are big technological breakthroughs in things such as batteries, green hydrogen, and carbon capture.
“No politician, I think, could now change what is happening globally in the marketplace,” Kerry said. “No politician, no matter how demagogic, potent, or capable, is going to be able to move that market.”
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Kerry was secretary of state when the Obama administration negotiated the Paris Agreement, which was later rejected by former President Donald Trump before Biden reentered the pact.
