On the Campaign Trail, Biden Made 46 Executive Climate Commitments — Here’s How He’s Fared at 100 Days
In his first 100 days, President Biden has already taken meaningful action on nearly three quarters of his climate commitments using executive action.
In 2020, President Joe Biden ran on the most ambitious climate agenda of any presidential nominee in U.S. history. Shortly after he secured victory, Evergreen detailed 46 commitments that Biden made on the campaign trail to fight the climate crisis that could be achieved through existing authorities and executive action — and that he could begin enacting on day one in office.
Since President Biden assumed office in January, we’ve seen an unprecedented level of climate ambition from the White House. Agencies across the administration have taken steps to tackle climate change and launch Biden’s vision for an all-of-government response to the crisis. However, much more work remains to be done.
So, 100 days in — how’s it going?
We ran the numbers. In his first 100 days, President Biden has already taken meaningful action on nearly three quarters of his climate commitments using executive action.
In the last 100 days, Biden has shown that he’s serious about climate, but the next 100 days will be crucial to realizing the bold mandate the American people voted for. Biden cannot deliver the full clean energy economic recovery agenda that carried him to victory without action from Congress, and the coming fight to pass a major infrastructure package will be a key moment in Biden’s climate legacy. The Biden administration must also continue to use its existing authorities — and to do so aggressively and creatively to meet this moment.
By The Numbers: Executive Action On Climate In The First 100 Days
Starting in his very first week in office, Biden acted quickly to begin establishing a whole-of-government response to the climate crisis with a series of executive actions ranging from centering the climate crisis in our nation’s approach to foreign policy, to leveraging federal purchasing power to procure clean technology. In Biden’s first 100 days, we have seen meaningful progress on 72% of the climate executive actions that the President committed to on the campaign trail but there’s still a long way to go to live up to President Biden’s historically ambitious platform.
The Biden administration has made “great progress” in 11 areas, and “some progress” on 22 of 46 commitments. There are 8 areas with “not enough progress” — where progress has begun, but has not gone fast or far enough. And there are 5 areas where we have seen “no visible progress.”
The 46 commitments we’re tracking were sourced from the Biden campaign’s climate plan, the Build Back Better Plan for clean energy and infrastructure, and the Biden environmental justice plan. A full list of each commitment and the progress so far can be found here.
The Road Ahead: Biden Can’t Fulfill His Climate Commitments Through Executive Action Alone
Last week, Biden announced a bold new NDC target to reduce U.S. carbon emissions by 50–52% by 2030, a target that we cannot meet without action for Congress. That’s why passing the American Jobs Plan (AJP) is key to delivering the bold climate and environmental justice agenda that the American people voted for.
The AJP is designed to create millions of good-paying union jobs, and makes major investments in clean energy, housing, transit and water infrastructure — all key elements of the path to a clean energy economic recovery. The proposal contains a 100% by 2035 Clean Electricity Standard, which on its own would achieve nearly half of the emissions reductions necessary to meet the administration’s ambitious new NDC.
In the first 100 days of his presidency, President Biden has made great strides towards fulfilling his promises to fight the climate crisis through executive action — but there’s more work to be done, and the President can’t do it all alone. Now, he must work with Congress to deliver on his climate mandate.
