Foremost among the reversals was a petition for Washington to rejoin the Paris climate control agreement. The Trump-mandated withdrawal took hold the day after the Nov. 3 election, and for more than two months the US was the only country in the world not a party to the accord.

The renewed US commitment to Paris comes with a pledge to draft a climate control plan to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 – the same goal that all members must commit to. Former senator and secretary of state John Kerry, who will be tasked with steering Biden’s climate control program, has said that reestablishing American leadership in this arena will be one of his top priorities.

Observers point out that ahead of the next climate summit, scheduled to be held this November in Glasgow, Scotland, the president’s team will have a lot of work to do. The EU and the UK now have committed to reducing emissions by 40% and 68% respectively against 1990 levels by 2030. The US has not increased its own commitment since the Obama administration signed the agreement in 2016, the same year Donald Trump was elected president. 

The US leadership will need to move quickly to pass the relevant legislation. Biden’s Democratic party and the opposition Republican party now each have 50 senators, but Democratic vice president Kamala Harris can break a tie vote. In mid-term elections every two years, voters often turn their backs on the sitting president’s party.

Conservative opponents are already lining up to try to torpedo the US Paris re-entry plan. A group of six Republican lawmakers immediately criticized the decision, saying they will introduce a resolution calling for Senate review, as the agreement is “a poorly negotiated, fatally flawed treaty that represents a bad deal for American families everywhere.”

By contrast, the national US. Chamber of Commerce, which in the past has been reticent to embrace climate legislation, said it welcomed Biden’s move to rejoin the pact, saying it looks forward to “engaging with the administration.”

Even the oil and gas lobby American Petroleum Institute (API), from which French energy group Total recently withdrew in criticism of its anti-climate control positions, said it supports the Paris accord’s goals and plans to advocate for natural gas as a transition toward cleaner fuels. Some, however, saw this remark as a hint that the API would not back a switch to renewables.

Washington will also stay in the WHO

Fulfilling another campaign promise, Biden – also on his first day in office – canceled Trump era plans to quit the World Health Organization, which Trump had mandated – ostensibly in protest over the WHO’s favoring China in the dispute over who was responsible for the still raging coronavirus pandemic.

Trump announced the planned US withdrawal in late May 2020. While it wasn’t due to become official until July 2021, the now former president had said US representatives would no longer participate in any meetings or decisions. Washington previously was the organization’s largest funder, providing the agency with almost $900 million during the WHO’s 2018 and 2019 budget cycle.

Biden, has already picked Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious diseases expert and until he fell out of favor with Trump the face of the president’s coronavirus response, to lead a US delegation to the WHO’s annual meetings this week. Fauci will also deliver remarks. The new administration said it plans to work with the UN organization on an international Covid-19 response plan as one of its first major policy changes.

In a statement, the presidential transition team said Biden “will work with the WHO and our partners to strengthen and reform the organization, support the COVID-19 health and humanitarian response, and advance global health and health security.” The US still has the highest number of deaths from the coronavirus, with the toll reaching 400,000 the day before the new president’s inauguration.

The new US secretary of state, Antony Blinken – who must still be confirmed by the Senate –has announced that Washington will also participate in Covax, the global alliance working to provide low-income nations with Covid vaccines. The Trump administration had declined to participate in the program.

In his first moves, Biden has also revoked a permit granted by the former president to the controversial Keystone XL oil sands pipeline from Canada – rejected by the Obama administration to Canada’s displeasure  – and placed a temporary moratorium on oil and gas drilling in the Arctic. Other changes to environmental legislation will undoubtedly follow. 

The pipeline is controversial not only for ecological reasons but also because it crosses Native American burial grounds. Most conservationists would like to see the administration kill Trump’s recently granted permit for fracking in nature preserves and US national parks.

Author: Dede Williams, Freelance Journalist