Biden’s first year shows a robust record of climate action

A year ago this week, President Biden was sworn into office with historic climate ambitions. Here’s our list of some of the climate wins we can celebrate — and what still needs to get done.

Climate leadership: President Biden used his very first day in office to announce that the U.S. would rejoin the Paris Agreement.

Emissions: he followed that with a pledge to cut U.S. climate pollution by 50%-52% by 2030, putting the U.S. in the top tier of global climate ambition. And he didn’t stop there.

The administration hosted an international leaders summit, declared the U.S. will work with China to tackle climate challenges, and committed with 100+ countries to cut methane emissions at an unprecedented scale and work to end deforestation this decade.

Climate all-stars: Biden assembled a superstar climate cabinet with environmental leaders like Gina McCarthy, John Kerry, Deb Haaland and Michael Regan among others — individuals who put climate action front and center.

Environmental justice: The Biden Administration made it crystal clear that low-income communities and communities of color often face the worst impacts of climate change and air and water pollution, establishing the first-ever White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council.

Clean energy: the administration announced the largest offshore wind lease in American history, renewed interagency coordination on offshore wind, while protecting biodiversity and promoting cooperative ocean use. And fast-tracked deployment of onshore clean energy on public lands.

Transportation and methane: Biden finalized the strongest-ever pollution standards for cars and passenger trucks, and proposed historic climate and health protections to strengthen and expand limits on methane pollution from the oil and gas industry.

Bipartisan infrastructure bill: climate investments were front and center in the bill, including funding for electric vehicle charging stations, clean electric buses, orphan wells, community resilience against natural disasters, lead pipe replacement and more.

By now, almost everyone has heard of the Build Back Better Bill, which Biden’s administration championed, and includes an unprecedented funding to advance the clean energy economy. It still needs to be passed by Congress.

We’ve come far — but we still have a long way to go.

Congress must pass the Build Back Better Act as soon as possible. It will be the most ambitious climate action in American history. It will create jobs, cut pollution, help communities around the country and lower energy costs for American families.

We also need to ensure that the bipartisan infrastructure bill is implemented effectively and equitably, so that communities most in need of more resilient infrastructure receive the funding required to get the job done.

And we must keep growing the federal investment in climate innovation so we can create a new generation of climate-smart technologies.

We applaud President Biden for setting the United States and the world on a path toward the climate action we need. Now, Congress and the White House need to finish the job by passing legislation to ensure a clean, safe and equitable future.