What a Biden presidency means for US, not just the U.S.

Four years of turmoil, physical and emotional wildfires, a global pandemic all exacerbated by ineptitude, ignorance and self-interest. While none of the concurrent crisis’ will be immediately solved by President Biden we can have faith that our world leaders will again add water, not gasoline, to the fires on our doorsteps. 

Within hours of becoming President of the - hopefully once again - United States, Joe Biden reached for the most powerful firehose our world has known – the pen of the President - and with it signed more than a dozen executive orders. The most prominent of which committed the US to re-join the Paris Climate Accord which aims to ensure global temperature increases stay below 1.5C through global cooperation. 

International collaboration has been undervalued and undermined over the past four years under the outgoing US administration. In its place nationalism, profit over purpose with rugged individualism for the poor and state bailouts for the rich – oil companies included. The President of the United States has for decades acted as the ‘leader of the free world’, at times failing callously, but never could we have imagined the denial of fact and the recent calls for insurrection that we have seen and heard from the outgoing President. 

The pendulum has swung and just in the nick of time. There is time yet to heal both the wounds within American society, which have led to hatred and polarization, as well as the physical wounds that are appearing in our fragile, yet beautiful planet. 

There have been concerns raised by several prominent journalists regarding several of President Biden’s cabinet nominations, but already we have seen a far more diverse and inclusive administration than the world bore witness to over the past four years. 

There are clear linkages between climate change and the conditions that often lead to war and vice versa, with the environmental footprint of the US military being astronomical. Let us hope that we see a less interventionist and more humanitarian approach than we have seen from previous Presidents. 

Along with the notable swings in environmental policy, President Biden has made clear his intent to unify the US through the implementation of broad reaching immigration, economic and healthcare policies. 

For now, having faced a global pandemic and the shoddiest ‘leader’ in living memory we should allow ourselves to concentrate on the positive actions that a Joe Biden Presidency presents. With 17 executive orders in his first 24 hours as President, Biden has lain down a marker for what he and his Vice President Kamala Harris intend to do. 

Inclusion. Diversity. Compassion. Unity. 

These are all words that we hope to be able to speak in four years’ time when we are likely see Vice President Harris run for the Presidency. 

Among the 17 executive orders signed by President Biden were the blocking of the Keystone XL pipeline construction in the US, which has been extremely controversial for many years having been supported by the outgoing president. Along with the commitment to re-join the Paris Agreement this sends a strong message to world leaders and to the markets alike that America with all of its prowess and innovation will once again become a leader, this time in the race to protect our home planet from ourselves. 

The coalescence of the US’ re-joining of the Paris Agreement and many international declarations, plans and laws brought forward in the past eighteen months including our own government’s ‘Climate Action Plan’ has brought with it a level of hope and ambition not seen since the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015. Now there is a marked difference not only in the political will but also the will of society. The people, you and I, want change and we want it now. We’ve had many of the solutions for decades, whether they be renewable energy, electric vehicles or the promotion of biodiversity and climate friendly agriculture. 

And as of the 20th of January, we have one less impediment, one less hurdle to jump and in his place the US has a leader who is willing and able to carry the baton forward for future generations. 

46 may be the Presidential number assigned to Joe Biden, however the most crucial number to his presidency will be whether or not he can guide our endangered planet and humanity itself back within the 1.5C threshold envisioned within the Paris Agreement. 

Cormac Nugent,

MSc Climate Change, Policy, Media and Societal Transition, BA Geography & International Development.