The announcements will also include a sweeping order to review all of ex-President Donald Trump's actions weakening climate change protections, the revocation of a vital permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline project from Canada, and a moratorium on oil and gas leasing activities in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge that Trump's administration had recently opened to development, Biden aides said.
The path won't be easy, though, with political divisions in the United States, opposition from fossil fuel companies, and wary international partners concerned about U.S. policy shifts obstructing the way. Trump withdrew the United States from the 2015 Paris deal late last year, arguing it was too costly to the U.S. economy and would provide little tangible benefit, and swept away scores of environmental protections he saw as onerous to drillers, miners, and manufacturers.
Brian Deese, Biden’s incoming director of the National Economic Council, told Reuters that the United States hopes to encourage other big emitters to also"push their ambition, even as we have to demonstrate our ability to come back on the stage and show leadership." “The world is looking to the Biden-Harris administration to generate solutions to the climate crisis, reinvigorate commitment to the Paris Agreement, and ensure that countries around the world can deliver a green and resilient recovery from COVID-19," Tina Eonemto Stege said.