GETTING BACK ON TRACK

Our nations environmental progress was stymied these last four years. The Trump Administration rolled back over 90 environmental rules and regulations, causing many scientists to fear irreversible changes in the climate.

Democrats will need to commit to curbing the effects of climate change, protect America’s natural resources, and ensure the quality of our air, water, and land for current and future generations. Investments must be made in clean energy to protect our ecosystems and to address our biggest environmental challenges. This “re-focusing” will pave the way to a more sustainable America.

Under President Obama, we made great strides to combat climate change and protect our environment and public lands. The Department of Transportation and the EPA issued new fuel-economy standards, the first meaningful increases in fuel economy for cars and light trucks in decades. President Obama instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to take steps to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants, which are the largest concentrated source of emissions in the United States. Under Donald Trump, the United States stood alone as the only nation in the world that is not a party to the Paris Climate Agreement.

The Joe Biden Administration needs to protect and build on President Obama’s progress. We know that climate change is one of our nation’s greatest challenges, and that addressing this urgent threat could make America the world’s clean energy superpower and create millions of good-paying jobs. We need to fight to protect our planet for future generations. It will take all of us acting together — workers and entrepreneurs, scientists and citizens, the public and the private sector — to address the challenge of climate change and seize our clean-energy future.