Biden's climate agenda: is this the beginning of the end for fossil fuels?

 

Fossil fuels have been the cornerstone of the prosperity of the United States for more than a century.

But in the few days after his inauguration, the new American president fought a war against coal, oil, and natural gas with a decisiveness that surprised everyone.

This week I spoke to the man Joe Biden tasked with developing his plans to combat climate change - John Kerry.

It's one of his top priorities, Kerry assured me, without any doubt at all. And he will make more progress on this issue than any previous president.

This seriousness is reflected in his choice of John Kerry as his special climate envoy.

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Kerry was President Barack Obama's Secretary of State and lead architect of the Paris Summit on Climate Change in 2015.

In other words, he is someone who is deeply invested in addressing global warming, understands current global climate diplomacy, and personally knows many of the key people the United States has to work with.

An ambitious start

Within the few days of the new president taking office, he has already exceeded expectations.

    • We knew that he would rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement, and we did not know that after a few days, "Caesar" ordered his local climate, Gina McCarthy, to draw up plans to commit the United States to the "most aggressive" carbon reduction possible.

    We expected him to try to kill the giant Keystone XL oil pipeline, but not that he would withdraw the permit on his first day in office, halting the 2,000-kilometer pipeline project.

    We learned that he plans to make climate change a priority in policymaking, but not because the Pentagon has ordered it to make it a national security issue.

    It is part of what is called a "full government" approach to this issue.

"He is rallying every administration and every agency within the US government to specialize in climate, and he is determined to pledge to revive America's credibility and reputation," Kerry said.

Even some of our deepest environmental activists were impressed.