Biden launches the most ambitious plan against the climate emergency: “We cannot wait any longer; It is time to act"

“We have already waited too long to deal with this climate emergency.

We can't wait any longer, ”said President Joe Biden on Wednesday as he launched his ambitious plan to reduce pollution and promote clean energy generation.

Biden signed a series of executive orders to

radically change Donald Trump's policies

 in the White House on climate change at the national and international levels. 

The plan aims to

reduce emissions

of oil, gas and coal and double the production of clean energy from wind turbines by 2030. It also intends to conserve 30% of the country's land and ocean waters in the next 10 years and stop the extraction of oil and gas.

"We are going to guard our public lands," Biden said. 

The president presented many of his measures as opportunities to

create jobs in the ecological sector

, from investing in clean and renewable energy.

One of the orders establishes that the federal government will have a fleet of electric vehicles. 

"This will mean a million new jobs in the American auto industry," he said.

Oil rigs in New Mexico (file image).

AP

The plan also includes aid to minorities,

Latino, black and Native American communities, which have been hit by pollution

.

These populations often live in close proximity to environmental threats such as polluting power plants, landfills, garbage incinerators, shipping ports, uranium mines, and factories.

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Biden reiterated over and over the urgency of putting these changes in motion.

“We see it with our own eyes.

We are sorry.

We know it in our bones.

And it is time to act, "he said. 

A memorandum was also issued elevating

climate change to a national security priority. 

It is also established that it will be taken into account in all foreign policy actions. 

Less oil extraction and more clean energy 

Biden has set a goal of eliminating fossil fuel pollution from the energy sector by 2035 and from the overall U.S. economy by 2050, accelerating the growth of the solar and wind energy market and decreasing the country's dependence on oil and gas. the gas.

One of the actions consists of imposing

a suspension of federal land concessions for new drilling for extractions

, a highly polluting activity.

In parallel, Biden asks the Secretary of the Interior to review current permits and contracts.

The order does not affect the territories of Native American communities. 

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The fossil fuel industries will be the hardest hit, so

much opposition is expected

from these companies.

Biden will also eliminate subsidies they have been awarded so far and will instead ask federal agencies to identify new opportunities to invest in innovation in the area of ​​clean energy production. 

The ambitious plan aims to curb global warming, caused by human activity and which is intensifying extreme weather events, such as forest fires in the west of the country and torrential rains and hurricanes in the east. 

A plan that raises fierce opposition

Biden's plan to suspend new public land concessions for oil and gas extraction has been applauded by environmental advocates

as an urgent measure

.

"Management's review, if done correctly, will show that dirty fracking [a technique used to enable or expand fuel extraction] and drilling must end forever, everywhere," said Kierán Suckling, CEO. of the Center for Biological Diversity.

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However, he

has

also

drawn fierce criticism from members of the energy industry

, who accuse him of hampering their plans and putting jobs at risk. 

It is not the first measure that the new government takes to try to limit the impact of this sector.

Last week, Biden canceled the permit for the construction of a large pipeline that would cross much of North America and ordered the suspension of new permits for drilling in federal soils and waters for 60 days. 

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"This is just the beginning. [The situation] is going to get worse," said Brook Simmons, president of the Petroleum Alliance of Oklahoma.

"Meanwhile, the laws of physics, chemistry, and supply and demand remain in place. Oil and natural gas prices are rising, as are heating bills, consumer prices, and fuel costs. ' added.

Much work is still missing

Biden's planned announcements are supposed to mark the return of the climate change issue on the government's agenda, but

they will not automatically allow a reduction in harmful emissions caused by the energy industry

, but only that its generation does not increase uncontrollably, it indicates a report from The New York Times. 

Experts consulted by that newspaper point out that the Administration alone does not have the scope to impose truly effective measures in this regard, such as a carbon tax, since for this it would need the support of Congress, currently controlled by the Democrats but

with a margin very narrow

. 

The measures that Biden has already taken or is about to take, meanwhile, do not limit current extraction activity in the oil and gas sector, AP notes.

Likewise, it does not have force on private land, subject rather to state regulations. 

In New Mexico, a state that is experiencing a boom in this industry, federal lands represent about a third of the total.

But in Texas, where the current situation is similar, the national government's land represents

only 2%

. 

With information from AP, The Washington Post, The New York Times.