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32. Withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement: President Trump fulfilled his campaign promise and announced his intention to withdraw from the agreement in 2017, but the terms of the agreement do not allow it to enter into force until November 2019, followed by a one-year waiting period. The United States officially left the United States the day after the 2020 presidential election. Biden rejoined the agreement within months. During President Trump's term, U.S. per capita emissions remained stable until a sharp decline in 2020, remaining far below the nation's peak in 1973.
33. Used executive power to interfere with EPA and gut health regulations: President Trump appointed Scott Pruitt, a former state attorney general who has sued the agency multiple times, to run the agency. Before leaving office amid an ethics scandal, Mr. Pruitt withdrew the Obama-era Clean Power Plan proposal and sought to limit the EPA's enforcement of clean air and water standards. The Trump administration has also repealed or weakened rules that limit methane emissions from fossil fuel production, mandate fuel efficiency standards for vehicles, and curb emissions of mercury and other toxic substances from power plants.
34. Funding outdoor conservation: Over the objections of some Republicans, President Trump signed the Great American Outdoors Act, which provides $3 billion a year for conservation projects and public lands. This money has been used to fund and repair trails, campgrounds, bridges, wildlife dams, and many other projects on public lands.
35. Bears Ears and Grand Staircase National Monument Reduction: By shrinking Bears Ears National Monument by 85 percent and the Grand Staircase by about 50 percent, President Trump completed the largest reduction in federal land protections in U.S. history. The move angered Native American tribes and environmentalists and excited Utah's Republican senators and governor, but it was reversed by President Biden.
36. Extension and Expansion of Offshore Drilling Moratorium in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico: President Trump tells the Secretary of the Interior to continue a ban on offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico off the coasts of Florida and Georgia, and extend the moratorium on offshore drilling to the Atlantic coasts of Florida and South Carolina from 2022 to 2032. issued a memorandum instructing them to do so. This infuriated industry lobbyists and executives.
37. Construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline has resumed and been completed. After multiple delays and cancellations by the Obama administration, construction on the pipeline resumed and was completed under the Trump administration. It transports hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil daily across several Midwestern states.
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31. Made the biggest investment in climate change: The Biden administration allocated $369 billion for climate change investments under the Inflation Control Act, making it the largest climate change investment in U.S. history. Key provisions include tax credits worth up to $7,500 for households purchasing electric vehicles. A tax on companies that emit methane gas above set thresholds. First federal tax on greenhouse gas emissions subsidies for clean energy hardware such as solar panels, wind turbines, and batteries. and funding for conservation programs. The bill, along with bipartisan infrastructure legislation, would create tax incentives for the private sector to invest in clean energy, electric vehicles, and electric homes to reduce U.S. carbon emissions by 2030. It is predicted to reduce by 18%.
32. Invest in green energy: The Biden administration authorized $73 billion for green power infrastructure in the bipartisan infrastructure law. IRA also invests in renewable and energy-efficient technologies such as heat pumps and rooftop solar panels, and high-efficiency electric heating, hot water, ventilation, and air conditioning systems.
33. Lower gasoline prices: After Russia invaded Ukraine, it sold nearly half of its strategic oil reserves. The move lowered gasoline prices by about 38 cents per gallon, according to the Treasury Department. Critics say the sale leaves the United States vulnerable to adversaries, but reserves are gradually being replenished.
34. Rejoining the Paris Agreement: After President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, Biden rejoined it a month after taking office. The agreement, which the United States helped conclude in 2015, is a commitment by the 195 signatories (194 countries and the European Union) to take steps to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
35. Blocked Keystone XL pipeline: The pipeline, which would have carried oil from the tar sands of western Canada to U.S. refiners, was finally halted after 13 years after Biden revoked the U.S. permit for the project. Biden declared that the pipeline, which would transport up to 35 million gallons of oil a day, “is not consistent with my administration's economic and climate imperatives.”
36. Accepting natural gas as a “bridge” fuel: After pledging to curb fracking as a front-runner, Biden issued oil and gas permits at a slightly higher rate than Trump as president. This accelerated the country's transition from coal to less carbon-intensive natural gas for power generation as a bridge to the renewable energy revolution. Natural gas will account for 43.1% of electricity generation in 2023, and coal will account for 16.2%, making it the highest for natural gas and the lowest for coal since coal peaked in 1985. The Biden administration has also dramatically increased liquefied natural gas exports to Europe. The move helped maintain an alliance supporting Ukraine as supplies from Russia dwindled. Drilling for natural gas can, in the short term, leak methane, a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. But in December 2023, the Biden administration finalized rules that would force swift action on leaks and impose fines on companies of $900 for every ton of methane they release into the atmosphere that exceeds certain thresholds. The EPA estimates that this will prevent 58 million tons of methane emissions from 2024 to 2038.
37. Significantly restrict new offshore oil and gas drilling: US oil production remains at record high, Biden says
Last year, he was criticized by climate activists for approving large gas and oil drilling projects in West Virginia and Alaska. But in September, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced plans to license just three offshore oil and gas leases (all in the Gulf of Mexico) over the next five years, the most since the federal licensing program began in 1980. It's less. Biden ordered a 20-year ban on new oil and gas drilling projects within 10 miles of Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico, an area considered sacred by indigenous peoples, and the Arctic National Historical Park in Alaska. Cancels seven remaining oil and gas leases on wildlife refuges, leases awarded by the Trump administration.
38. Raising automobile fuel efficiency standards: In 2022, the Biden administration set new fuel economy standards requiring 2026 model year cars and light trucks to average 49 miles per gallon. If more recent proposals are implemented, the bar will be set even higher. To meet this requirement, automakers will need to make about two-thirds of their new cars electric by that year.
39. Launch climate change unit: This winter, the Biden administration secured funding to launch a new climate force. The Corps is a federal program that employs young people across the country working on clean energy, conservation, and climate resiliency.
40. Sign the Kigali Amendment: In 2022, Biden won bipartisan support to ratify the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, an international agreement that requires participating countries to reduce their use of hydrofluorocarbons by 80 percent by 2047. Hydrofluorocarbons are a type of chemical used in cooling and refrigeration equipment that produce strong greenhouse gas emissions.
