WASHINGTON — Lawmakers and climate activists gathered on Capitol Hill Thursday to bring attention to the issue of climate change in advance of Joe Biden’s projected presidency. President-Elect Biden promised to roll out a $2 trillion climate plan during his campaign.
Outside the Democratic National Headquarters, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) detailed her concerns heading into 2021.
“I’m not concerned about the president trying to derail progress for the grassroots movement," she said. "I am concerned about the fossil fuel industry trying to derail progress for our movement."
Climate activist Basav Sen said he felt Biden could show where he stands on the issue by who he appoints to his cabinet.
“I would want to see an administration not staffed by the usual suspects in the fossil fuel industry,” he said.
Biden has expressed an interest in making the United States net-zero in carbon emissions by 2050. He has also said he wants to invest in more efficient transportation, infrastructure, and developing cleaner utilities.
"I think both by investments in incentives and by reinstating effective, doable standards, I think that's the path forward," Dr. Donald Boesch, professor emeritus at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, said.
He added he is encouraged by Biden's plan to rejoin the "Paris Agreement," an accord that seeks to strengthen the global response to climate change. The United States recently exited the agreement at the order of President Donald Trump.
"The US' absence gave a lot of other countries reasons not to move very fast," Boesch said.
Biden’s stance on fracking was also a focus of much discussion during his campaign for the presidency.
"I watched the debate when the President-Elect said he didn't support a ban of fracking,” Boesch said. “He then said we needed to move quickly away from fossil fuels. So, the reality of it is that we can't move from fossil fuels in a year or two. It's going to take some time. So using natural gas gives us some chance to lower our emissions while we're making these changes."
However, Boesch points out much of what Biden will do regarding climate change will depend on whether Democrats win control of the Senate in January.