These include encouraging offshore wind farms and support mechanisms to help communities cope with higher temperatures. For example, the federal disaster relief service FEMA will receive 2.3 billion dollars (2.26 billion euros) for a program to make municipalities more resistant to heat waves, drought, wildfires, floods and hurricanes.
“Climate change is an existential threat to our nation and the world,” Biden said Wednesday during a visit to a former coal-fired power plant in the state of Massachusetts, where power cables from offshore wind farms will come ashore in the future. The United States emits the most greenhouse gases after China.
So far, Biden has failed to make much progress on his climate plans, one of his key campaign points. The president cannot get them through the Senate, where the Democrats only have a wafer-thin majority and therefore always have to get everyone’s noses in the same direction.
Just days ago, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin blocked another economic program of climate action, worth billions of dollars in investment. He comes from West Virginia, a state that is home to the largest energy and especially coal producers in the country.
The White House is now considering declaring a “climate emergency,” a spokesman confirmed on Tuesday. That would allow Biden to repurpose federal funds. For example, by focusing more on renewable energy and blocking oil and gas drilling.