https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/09/biden-climate-emergency-00110486
President Joe Biden said he has already “practically” declared a climate emergency. But he has yet to actually make a declaration, which would give him a host of new powers to combat climate change as the country faces record-breaking heat and more frequent and intense floods, droughts and wildfires.
“We’ve already done that,” Biden said Wednesday when asked whether he was prepared to declare a national climate emergency during an interview on The Weather Channel. “We’ve conserved more land, we’ve moved into rejoining the Paris Climate Accord. We’ve got a $60 billion climate control facility.”
When pressed about whether he has actually declared an emergency, Biden responded, “Practically speaking, yes.”
Though the law limits emergency declarations to one year, it could be renewed annually to address the increasingly troubling impacts of climate change.
White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre did not walk back Biden’s comments when asked about them during an interview on CNN later Wednesday morning.
“This is a president that has taken really an ambitious approach to climate change,” Jean-Pierre said, turning the conversation to the Inflation Reduction Act, the sweeping bill Biden championed last year that included hundreds of billions of dollars to help the U.S. transition away from fossil fuels.
