U.S. President Joe Biden outlines a plan to combat global warming at the former site of the Brayton Point coal-fired power plant in Somerset, Massachusetts July 20, 2022. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP
Expected at the November 11 climate conference in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, Joe Biden is no longer quite the same president: the midterm elections were held on November 8 and their outcome is a tie in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Even if he’s prevented from presenting new projects, Mr. Biden will still be able to brag about his record.
First, it was the United States’ return to the Paris Climate Agreement, on the eve of its inauguration at the White House, in January 2021. It is above all its climate plan, passed in the summer of 2022 to everyone’s surprise due to the reversal of the Democratic Senator from West Virginia, Joe Manchin. Certainly the plan is much lower than the President’s original wishes, but this bill, which covers renewable energy, grids, research, etc., means a large investment of about $370 billion (373 billion euros) or 1.5% of American GDP. The law “is a game changer for decarbonizing the United States. We find that the package as a whole reduces net U.S. greenhouse gas emissions to 32% by 2030 — 42% below 2005 levels compared to 24% to 35% without it,” said economic analysis group Rhodium this summer group.
It follows a $1.2 trillion infrastructure plan signed in late 2021 and a more than $280 billion science and semiconductor investment plan. Overall, these plans are designed to defend the strategy of American strategic independence and provide employment for American workers.
A muted climate discourse
Originally called Build Back Better, the climate plan has been officially renamed the Inflation Reduction Act. The general rise in prices, particularly energy, has been a top concern for Americans for the past nine months, and the climate is not the best political war horse.
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This context makes it possible to understand the American domestic political momentum: a muted climate discourse and a very strong protest by Republicans who accuse Joe Biden of being involved in the fight against the oil industries (cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline between Canada and the United States) at the beginning of his mandate United States, freeze on federal hydrocarbon exploration permits).
Oil and Republican states like Texas are paradoxically major players in solar and wind energy
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