The Biden administration is committing the US to a new greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction target for 2035, a move that is unlikely to hold much weight when president-elect Donald Trump takes office next month.
The US will pursue reducing GHG emissions economy-wide by 61-66pc below 2005 levels by 2035, keeping the country in line with its 2050 net-zero target, President Joe Biden announced on Thursday.
Lowering methane emissions, a short-lived climate pollutant, is also part of the new target, with the US estimating that it will achieve reductions of at least 35 percent, compared to 2005 levels, by 2035.
The Biden administration set the new target as part of requirements under the Paris Agreement, which calls on participating countries to outline their climate ambitions every five years through nationally determined contributions (NDCs).
This new target is more-stringent that the previous one set by the administration in 2021, which aimed for a 50-52pc reduction in GHG emissions, compared to 2005 levels, by 2030.
Biden's move to shore up the US' climate ambitions is the latest in a series of actions taken by the administration in recent months, including meeting Paris Agreement climate finance pledges and dispersing funding from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) ahead of Trump's succession in January.
With the expectation that the Trump administration will, as it did in 2017, withdraw the US from the Paris climate agreement, legislators and advocacy groups see the move as a symbolic gesture to rally local and state governments along with climate organizations to continue pursuing emissions reductions in the absence of robust federal support.
"This is a signpost that we will hopefully use in the not-to-distant-future to find our way back to the global negotiating table," Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate and Nuclear Safety chair Edward J. Markey (D) said.
Trump is likely to again pursue the reversal of major environmental regulations, similar to his first term, as he pushes for increased US oil production.
Additionally, the president-elect said last month that he plans to nominate former US representative Lee Zeldin (R-New York) to run the US Environmental Protection Agency, in line with campaign promises supporting a deregulatory agenda.
The Trump administration's proposed tariffs on China imports, and the threat that the administration may take aim at the tax credits provided by the IRA may also slow growth, at least in the short term, in the clean energy sector.
Offshore wind faces perhaps the most uncertain near-term outlook of any renewable resource, with Trump deeply critical of the sector and with permitting controlled largely at the federal level. The administration's policy agenda and potential changes to the investment tax credit's eligibility could slow the sector, even if analysts and developers believe it will ultimately continue to move forward. Even under Biden, industry observers expected the US to miss the 30,000MW by 2030 goal set by the administration after a rash of contract and project cancellations that began last year.
A lack of federal urgency on climate commitments will transfer climate ambitions to the states, a challenge that states not dominated by Republicans have often aggressively pursued in times of a Republican-led White House, including during the first Trump administration.
More than 20 state and commonwealth governors have committed to achieving the US' Paris Agreement target as part of the bipartisan US Climate Alliance.
"President Biden's bold leadership is keeping us on a path to achieve a clean energy economy, and together, the country's climate-leading governors will carry the torch forward," US Climate Alliance co-chair New York governor Kathy Hochul (D) said.
The move will also likely place further emphasis on existing state emissions reduction programs like cap-and-trade and low-carbon fuel standards in states such as Washington and California to achieve reductions, along with developing programs such as New York's cap-and-invest program.
