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President Biden’s success in advancing the most ambitious climate, clean energy, and environmental justice agenda in American history has been a cornerstone of his time in office. As we mark the last year of his first term, and the start of an election year, the gulf between the American people’s options is only getting wider. President Biden’s record stands in stark contrast to Donald Trump and the GOP B-team candidates vying for second place in the GOP primary.
Republican Strategy: Burn It All Down
Today’s Republican party is spear-headed by a MAGA lineup that’s keen on spewing climate denialism for their own political and financial gains—no matter the costs. And while denying the facts of science and climate change is nothing new for Republicans, emboldened extremists in Congress and on the campaign trail are now going to great lengths to wage active war against our last chance at a clean, livable future. Trump’s own climate rhetoric on the campaign trail has become increasingly untethered from reality and sources close to him are promising that in a second term, Trump would “go back to all-out fossil fuel production and sit on the EPA.”
Far-right agenda platforms like the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025” have already become widely accepted by conservatives as the mainstream for the campaign trail, despite being rejected by the majority of voters. This agenda not only vows to claw back hundreds of billions of dollars in critical climate and clean energy investments, but it aims to further tether the U.S. economy to polluting and financially volatile oil, gas, and coal production. Trump and his fellow Republicans have made it clear that they’re more interested in bolstering record profits for corporate fossil fuel interests than taking action to protect the American people from the threat of climate change and investing in a clean energy economy that will keep America at the forefront of the global energy transition for decades to come. Simply put—the GOP agenda is a loaded starting gun lying in wait that could spiral us into rapid decline, irrevocable damage, and climate chaos.
Everything’s On The Line
In case the nationwide wildfires, catastrophic flooding, and dystopian red smoke-filled skies weren’t signal enough; the data is crystal clear, 2023 was the hottest year on record—by a lot. Reports show toxic pollution continues to threaten the health of more than 100 million Americans, especially those in Black, Brown, Indigenous, and frontline communities. Extreme weather remains deadly. And depleted crop and farming yields are threatening food security. Beyond that, Americans are repeatedly facing power outages from the fossil-based power grid and the country just tallied a record number of billion dollar+ climate-related disasters, altogether totaling nearly 93 billion dollars.
There’s no doubt: We’re living in a state of climate crisis. It’s here, now, and its impacts are reverberating into communities from California to New York, Michigan to Florida, and beyond. But Republicans are poised to quite literally upend any progress made thus far, and knee-cap any attempts to make progress in the future the second they grab onto control in Washington. They’re not just indifferent, they are actively organizing to perpetuate an agenda that prioritizes profits and fossil fuel interests over people and the planet. And we’re out of time to continue course-correcting their malfeasance, now or down the line.
At the same time, we’re living through the promise of what climate action can deliver. President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act has set in motion a clean energy revolution that is creating hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country, bringing manufacturing back to communities that were once the economic engine of America, and beginning to build the clean energy future we need.
To make matters even more pressing, the winner of the 2024 election will bring the U.S. into the year 2028—just two years out from the critical 2030 climate target deadlines—it’s vital that we have a leader with a proven track record on climate in the White House. The stakes of this election cannot be overstated.
We Need a Climate Champion
This year, it’s more important than ever before to reject the greedy, anti-democratic, and corrupt special interests of a Republican party that’s inspired only by the aspiration of making the rich, richer and the powerful, more powerful. Bankrolled by Big Oil and corporate autocrats, the MAGA agenda has nothing to offer the American people but climate and economic chaos.
President Biden can, and must, continue to expand upon his winning climate agenda. This means furthering institutional reforms, expanding state implementation for critical climate and clean energy investments, strengthening federal standards, and enshrining the intersectional nature of our democratic values—across all sectors—in such a way that promotes equity and justice for all.
You can learn more here.
Paid for by Evergreen Action. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.
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