As Joe Biden arrives at COP27 on Friday November 11, what is the environmental record of the American president two years after taking office? By succeeding Donald Trump, Joe Biden immediately made the image of the United States greener, returning, from the first day of his presidency, to the Paris Agreement which had been denounced by Trump. On the same day, Joe Biden also suspended a huge pipeline project, Keystone XL, which was to link Canada to the Gulf of Mexico to transport oil from the tar sands.
More recently, in the summer of 2022, the American president had his climate plan adopted. The equivalent of nearly 400 billion euros will be invested, ie approximately 1.5% of the American GDP which will be devoted to renewable energies, research or even very concrete financial aid. For example, an American will be able to receive up to 7 500 dollars in tax credits for the purchase of an electric car, the installation of solar panels on the roofs will be supported at 30%, measures for the renovation of housing are also planned. This reform, which represents a record investment, should reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030.
Still, the president must also deal with states that are reluctant. For example, his climate plan is less ambitious than he wanted because he had to find a compromise, in particular with the Democratic senator from West Virginia, a state known for its coal mines, and whose elected official threatened to scupper the whole bill without his support.
Another black spot in Joe Biden’s environmental policy: shale gas. It represents nearly 80% of the natural gas extracted in the United States. And even if its extraction is very polluting, shale gas weighs more and more in the American energy mix, since the beginning of its exploitation about fifteen years ago. Not to mention that since the war in Ukraine, this same gas is partly exported to Europe to compensate for Russian gas
Finally, if greenhouse gases have tended to decrease in the United States for a few years, in the country of SUVs, the carbon footprint per inhabitant remains very high since an American emits on average three times more than the world average.