Congressional climate action is dead. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia made sure of that when he told his party Thursday he "unequivocally" rejects any spending bill that includes provisions to clean up the nation's electricity grid. Despite some public waffling by Manchin on Friday, furious and defeated Democratic lawmakers are calling on President Joe Biden to do something — anything — as the planet continues to warm to dangerous levels. "With legislative climate options now closed, it's now time for executive Beast Mode," Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) tweeted. Even Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), who has shied away from delegating climate action to Biden, said the time has come. Climate emergency declaration
Presidents have declared national emergencies more than 100 times in the past 50 years— usually for foreign crises. But former President Donald Trump set a new precedent in 2019 when he used the lever to circumvent Congress and funnel billions of dollars into his border wall with Mexico. Now, climate advocates want Biden to follow suitand declare a national climate emergency. While not a silver bullet, the move would unlock billions of dollars annually to fund a clean energy revolution and protect the most vulnerable from the impacts of climate change. "This is kind of a put up or shut up moment for Biden," said Collin Rees, the U.S. program manager at Oil Change International. Still, the president would need the Supreme Court to uphold a declaration. That might be a risky bet after the conservative high court hobbled the administration's ability to clean up the power sector last month — even if the same court allowed Trump's emergency gambit to proceed. Plus, Biden's recent calls to increase domestic oil production as a response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine has not exactly inspired confidence from climate advocates. "Biden is about to do what every president before him has done on climate: nothing," Will Cleveland, a senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, said in a tweet. "It's up to states for the foreseeable future." Reality check
Aggressive action from states has kept demand for clean energy high. "Therefore, deployments for solar are likely to remain high even with this setback," noted Rob Rains, an analyst at Washington Analysis LLC. Still, a new analysis from the Rhodium Group found that without federal policies, meeting Biden's climate goals will not happen. In accordance with the Paris climate deal, the president has pledged to halve heat-trapping emissions by 2030 compared with 2005 levels. Even declaring a climate emergency might not make up the difference, Rees said. "But Biden can definitely take a big chunk out of what's needed here," he said.
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