Flip-Flop on Climate Change

By Wen Qing

‘What makes climate change difficult is that it is not an instantaneous catastrophic event，” former U.S. President Barack Obama said during an interview in 2016. “Its a slow-moving issue that， on a day-to-day basis， people dont experience and dont see.” He stressed that the aftermath is “terrifying.”

To deal with this challenge， Obama initiated the Clean Power Plan， which sought to lower pollution by power plants using fossil fuel. But the initiative was blocked by the Supreme Court and furthermore， just one year after he stepped down， his successor Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Agreement.

Four years later， President Joe Biden， Obamas vice president from 2009 to 2017， is hoping to put the U.S. back at the center of global efforts to address the climate crisis. “The United States isnt waiting. We are resolving to take action， not only our federal government， but our cities and our states all across our country， small businesses， large corporations， American workers in every field，” Biden said at the global Leaders Summit on Climate held virtually on April 22.

For the international society， it is welcome news that the U.S. has returned to reassume its due responsibility. However， whether the Biden administration can fully fulfill its promise is being widely questioned as the struggle between the two leading parties in the U.S. as well as a lack of domestic consensus on how to address climate change fallouts might largely block the implementation of Bidens plan.

Partisan rift

In a Pew Research Centers survey in the U.S. in January 2019， of the nearly 20 topics the respondents were questioned on， Republicans and Democrats were the furthest apart in their views on how much priority should be accorded to mitigating climate change. While 67 percent of the Democrats and Democraticleaning independents surveyed said dealing with the issue should be a top priority， only 21 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents echoed that—a 46-percentage point gap.

“The Republicans are unwilling to accept the energy transition， believing that it will harm the interests of the energy groups that support the party. Some conservatives believe that reducing emissions will sacrifice the quality of life of the middle class，”Sun Chenghao， an assistant research fellow at the Institute of American Studies of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations， said.

Therefore， although the Biden administration is calling for emission reduction in the international community， it faces great resistance to implement it domestically， Sun said.