As Trump and Biden lay out their climate agendas, the choice could not be more clear

February 1, 2024

Oliver Milman If there was any lingering doubt over what’s at stake in this year’s US presidential election when it comes to the climate crisis, the past week has thrown the matter into stark relief. Joe Biden, facing mounting pressure from climate activists increasingly grumpy with his ongoing embrace of oil and gas drilling, decided on Friday to hit pause on an escalating boom in liquefied natural gas (or LNG) exports along the Gulf of Mexico coast. And if Biden was trying to distance himself from Republicans in order to win back climate-conscious voters then Donald Trump, his likely opponent in November, was happy to oblige. More on two likely candidates and their very different climate platforms, after this week’s climate must-reads.

Essential reads Extraction of raw materials to rise by 60% by 2060, says UN report The global extraction of raw materials is expected to increase by 60% by 2060, with calamitous consequences for the climate and the environment, according an unpublished UN analysis seen by the Guardian. Natural resource extraction has soared by almost 400% since 1970 due to industrialisation, urbanisation and population growth, according to a presentation of the five-yearly UN Global Resource Outlook made to EU ministers last week. ‘Hypocritical’ European politicians weaken climate policies amid farmer protests Under pressure from the far right in upcoming elections, environmental concessions being made across continent Exhausted by an energy crisis, burdened by bureaucracy and angry at efforts to curb their pollution, Europe’s farmers say people are not listening to their plight. “Over the last few years we’ve spoken out vigorously, but we haven’t been heard,” Europe’s biggest farming lobby, Copa Cogeca, said on Wednesday in an open letter to the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen. “The survival of European family farming as it is known today is in danger.” Watching tractors trundle through their cities, politicians in offices from Paris to Berlin have taken note of the fury. Farmers scored their first EU-wide win on Wednesday after weeks of demonstrations that have swept western Europe – cheered on by the far right – with Von der Leyen asking member states to delay by one year a key rule to encourage biodiversity and protect soil health. It follows other concessions to farmers from politicians in France and Germany that have so far done little to stop the unrest. ‘I feel healthy, physically and mentally’: five people on how Veganuary changed their lives Number of vegans in UK has quadrupled to 1 million in the 10 years since campaign was launched

In focus

At last week’s announcement, Biden said he will “heed the calls of young people and frontline communities” – a pointed reference to those most sharply critical of the US president for not cracking down on oil and gas leasing until now – in temporarily halting new permits for LNG to be shipped to all corners of the world while new climate considerations are drawn up. Such context will be weighty – by one calculation all of the planned gas terminals will result in 3.2bn tons of greenhouse gases a year, about the total emissions of the entire European Union, if they all go ahead. Meanwhile, a day after Biden’s LNG pause, Trump held a rally in Las Vegas, where he variously warned of an “invasion” of migrants along the southern border that needed to be curbed by an influx of German shepherd dogs, performed a lengthy, mocking impression of Biden and claimed he will “prevent world war three”. The multiply-indicted, twice-impeached former president’s speeches may be becoming less coherent but on climate change the tone is consistent, clear and hardening. “I will approve the export terminals on my very first day back,” Trump said, to cheers. “On day one, I will end crooked Joe Biden’s insane electric vehicle mandate.” He added: “We will drill, baby, drill.” For many Americans, the thought of a rematch between Biden and Trump may be deeply uninspiring but the current president sees climate change as a way to energise younger voters and provide a strong contrast to his far right alternative. “While MAGA Republicans wilfully deny the urgency of the climate crisis, condemning the American people to a dangerous future, my administration will not be complacent,” Biden stressed on Friday. It may be a tough sell. Polls show most voters know little about the enormous boost to clean energy contained in Biden’s signature Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) – a climate bill that is mis-named – and those who are engaged on climate issues are just as likely to be enraged by the president’s acquiescence to major drilling projects, such as the controversial Willow oil complex in Alaska covered previously in this newsletter. Biden will have to lean hard on the reality that he is not running against some perfect environmental champion, but Donald Trump. Those advising and encouraging the former president are agitating for an even more stringent approach than his previous term – an evisceration of the Environmental Protection Agency, the IRA repealed or at least throttled, the Paris climate agreement not just dead but buried, a zealous crackdown on federal climate science, a reversal of anti-pollution rules for cars and power plants. The choice may not be ideal, but it is clear. With the battle lines drawn on climate, American voters will be making that choice for the rest of the world, as well as for themselves. Read more on America’s climate crisis:

How a Black Miami neighborhood became ‘ground zero for climate gentrification’ How a US mining firm sued Mexico for billions – for trying to protect its own seabed Constant clouds over US Great Lakes area could hurt residents’ mental health