On Earth Day, Friday April 22, Joe Biden ordered the protection of ancient forests in the United States, considered crucial in the fight against climate change.
His executive order, signed during a visit to Seattle, Washington, recognizes the importance of America’s ancient forests in the fight against climate change, but also their vulnerability to ever-increasing fires.
Thus, Joe Biden demands from federal officials an inventory of ancient forests within a year, as well as the identification of the threats to these trees. “We must act quickly, and with this decree on Earth Day, we are showing that this moment of maximum threat and urgency can also be a moment of immense hope,” he said.
Message to Brazil
The American president also suggested that Washington get more involved in the fight for the survival of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil.
“We should pay the Brazilians not to raze their forest,” said the American president. For its part, the White House affirms that American forests absorb an amount of carbon dioxide equivalent to 10% of annual American emissions of greenhouse gases.
Several advances
For Joe Biden, the challenge is to realize the environmental ambitions of his program, despite difficulties in implementing them due to a lack of support from Congress. Indeed, many of Biden’s advances were secured by executive orders, which do not require parliamentary approval but can be revoked by the next president.
On Tuesday, the Biden administration announced that it would restore the obligation for federal agencies to study all the environmental consequences of the construction of major infrastructure projects, including on climate change. A decision which thus goes back to a reform of Donald Trump.
As part of a law on public works, the text provides billions of dollars to extend the public transport network, such as the train, and funding to promote solar panels and electric vehicle charging platforms .
Still reluctance
A second spending plan of 555 billion dollars intended for the development of green energy, however, failed in the Senate, weakening the great climate ambitions displayed by the Biden administration.
Among them, to achieve carbon neutrality in the United States by 2050, or that the electricity network operates entirely thanks to renewable energies by 2035.