President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris were elected with a decisive mandate to take the bold action needed to address the climate crisis. If interested, Sierra Club experts are available to speak to Biden’s climate mandate, the ongoing transition, and what the climate community expects to see from the incoming administration.
If interested, please contact Jonathon Berman at jonathon.berman@sierraclub.org.
Biden’s Climate Mandate
President-Elect Biden and Vice President-Elect Harris campaigned on the strongest climate action plan of any candidate in our history. When they won, they secured a decisive mandate for immediate executive action to tackle the climate crisis.
When the voters went to the polls last week, it’s clear they factored climate change into their presidential vote this cycle more than ever before. According to data from the CNN Exit Poll and the NBC News Exit Poll, two-thirds of 2020 voters across the country believe climate change is a serious problem. Joe Biden won nearly 7 in 10 voters (68%) who take this view on climate change, compared to just 29% who voted for Trump. Additionally, a Morning Consult Exit Poll found that 95% of Biden voters said climate change was an important factor in deciding whom to vote for in the presidential election, including 74% who described it as "very" important.
President-Elect Biden has promised a sweeping shift in our nation’s handling of climate change. His Build Back Better plan and immediate actions have demonstrated a “whole of the government” approach to the crisis, ensuring that every tool possible is used. It’s critical that this approach be maintained in order to deliver on jobs and justice for every person and every community.
The president-elect will have many avenues to enact his bold agenda, from executive orders to re-writing the disastrous rules created by the Trump Administration and drafting new ones, to crafting safeguards that protect our clean air and water and the climate. In order to safeguard our communities and complete the transition to a 100% clean energy economy, Biden must use every tool in the toolbox. Re-joining the Paris Climate Agreement and reversing the damage of the Trump administration are our first steps forward, and then, onto the ambitious actions Biden and Harris have outlined in their plans.
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris campaigned on the idea that climate and clean energy action should be centered on equity and racial justice, and we expect them to govern as such. This starts by filling their administration with those who understand that racial and economic justice are inextricably linked with climate justice, and then implementing their proposed plans.
SAFEGUARDING PUBLIC LANDS & PUBLIC HEALTH
Biden proposed halting new leases and permitting for fossil fuel drilling on federal public lands and waters, and he must do so as soon as he takes office. Through executive action, he can tighten pollution safeguards, give communities more say over harmful fossil fuel proposals, and close loopholes which allow fossil fuel companies to access low-cost capital, skimp on royalty payments to taxpayers, or leave non-producing wells to keep polluting rather than cleaning them up. It’s time for the government to get out of the business of padding polluters’ profit margin and onto delivering on the promise to protect our public health and solve the climate crisis.
DEMOCRACY
If there were ever a time to double down on strengthening our democracy and ensuring the right to vote, it would be right now. We’ve seen the damage that can easily be inflicted upon our democracy, and it’s time the government takes action. While we continue to demand Congress pass HR 1, the Biden-Harris Administration must also act. This starts by simply not being the constant threat Donald Trump has and continues to be, but expands to protecting voting rights by prosecuting those who violate the Voting Rights Act and various federal election laws, all while increasing transparency and ethics reforms throughout the incoming administration. It’s more clear than ever that we cannot protect our environment if we do not safeguard our democracy and the right of citizens to choose their government.
FINANCIAL STABILITY
As it poses a number of long-term risks and economic uncertainty, climate change must be taken into consideration in our government’s analysis of financial stability. We expect the Federal Reserve under Biden to formally enumerate climate change in its biannual financial stability report and join the Network for Greening the Financial System to manage climate risks.
CABINET & EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP
The climate crisis is already affecting our lives, endangering our communities, and threatening our collective future. But as President-Elect Biden has said, addressing the crisis is not only necessary, but an opportunity to create jobs.
The “whole of government” approach to the climate crisis outlined in the Build Back Better plans are just the start. We expect to see a Biden administration staffed by cabinet members and key senior White House staff who understand the urgency of the climate and environmental justice crises we face, have experience strategizing for ambitious climate action, and who are committed to prioritizing it right out of the gate in all areas of government.
The Biden-Harris team’s actions thus far are demonstrating a clear recognition of this mandate and an immediate commitment to aggressive action that will begin on day one of the new administration.
We are in a critical moment. The U.S. is lagging behind virtually every other high-income nation on the path to cutting carbon pollution. Scientists have found that nearly 10 percent of the globe has already warmed by 2 degrees Celsius — a threshold which, if the entire globe reaches, would mean severe and irreversible damage to the planet. But we are dedicated to not merely holding President-Elect Biden accountable, but working hand-in-hand to put the boldest climate and clean energy jobs plan in history into action.
President-Elect Biden and Vice President-Elect Harris received the most votes of any Presidential ticket in history, which means that the most voters in history are prioritizing a deliberate, ambitious agenda to deal with climate change. With this kind of momentum, we know that this mandate can and must be delivered on.
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3.5 million members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.