After talking in detail about the threat posed by China and Russia, the strategy reviewed the common challenges that threaten the vital interests of the United States, its allies and partners, and the world in general, areas that are routinely addressed by US national security strategies with some updates and increases from one administration to another.
President Biden's strategy has limited these challenges to 12 areas that it will work to meet within two simultaneous tracks, the first by fully engaging all countries and institutions to cooperate in confronting common threats, and the other by redoubling efforts to deepen cooperation with like-minded partners of the United States.
In this article, we discuss the part of the climate and energy challenge, as the climate challenge is a new addition in President Biden's strategy, which has been included in the energy challenge, given the importance of the climate crisis in his administration's strategy.
The strategy says, “Combating the climate crisis, enhancing our energy security and accelerating the transition to clean energy is an integral part of our strategic industrial efforts, economic growth and security. We embrace and deploy new technologies and solutions, allowing us to lead the world while creating new markets and scalable approaches. These investments will sustain It will put the United States in the lead, increase its economic capacity, and support millions of jobs and trillions of dollars in economic activity over the next decade.”
China has emerged in many of these challenges as the main threat behind them, noting that it must make concessions as a precondition for cooperation on common challenges, such as climate change, and the strategy cites China's insufficient cooperation with the World Health Organization and the international community on the global response. It also continues to put the world at risk by taking insufficient action on domestic climate change, particularly with regard to the extensive use and accumulation of coal energy.
The strategy did not limit the responsibility to confront common challenges in countries, but rather opened the way for institutions to make their say in them, each according to their specialization, economic, technological, legal, international, and others, similar to what the United Nations did in the comprehensive transformation plan known as the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals plan, and this It reaffirms the strong congruence between this plan and that of the Biden administration.
Economic dimensions of climate and energy
President Biden's strategy put the climate and energy crisis at the top of the common challenges, and it is the largest of them according to the strategy, because this challenge may exist in all countries.
The strategy argues that without immediate global action during this crucial decade, global temperatures will exceed the critical 1.5°C warming threshold, and scientists have warned that some of the most catastrophic climate impacts after that will be irreversible:
Climate impacts and humanitarian emergencies will only get worse in the coming years, from more powerful wildfires and hurricanes in the United States to floods in Europe.
Rising sea levels in Oceania.
Water scarcity in the Middle East.
Ice melting in the Arctic.
Drought and deadly temperatures in sub-Saharan Africa, which will heighten tensions, and compete with countries for resources and energy.
Increased humanitarian needs, food insecurity and health threats.
The potential for instability, conflict and mass migration.
Here, the strategy calls for the need to protect forests globally, and to create an energy revolution to avert the climate crisis, to reduce collective dependence on countries like Russia that seek to weaponize energy for coercion.
Biden's strategy very cleverly linked climate and energy into a common challenge and for the first time in national security strategies.
In a very remarkable reference, Biden's strategy illustrates the economic dimensions of the climate crisis for the United States when it states that "fighting the climate crisis, enhancing our energy security, and accelerating the transition to clean energy is an integral part of our industrial strategic efforts, economic growth and security."
We incubate and deploy new technologies and solutions, allowing us to lead the world while creating new markets and scalable approaches. These investments will keep the United States at the fore, increase its economic capacity, and support millions of jobs and trillions of dollars in economic activity over the next decade."
The climate crisis occupies the fifth goal of the sustainable development goals of the United Nations, in which financial institutions estimate the cost of annual investment projects at more than 4 trillion dollars, and the climate and energy crisis accounts for the lion’s share of this amount, due to its wide scope and multiplicity of fields, to include transportation, roads, airports and energy networks technology, equipment and technical equipment industry, and even media, education, consumer regulations and habits.
Climate and energy are two sides of the same coin, and what Biden and the United Nations strategy is trying to convince the world of is joint action to confront the crisis of climate change, reduce carbon emissions and transition to clean energy or green energy, which is the key to entering a new phase in human life that will be largely complete by 2050. .
And when the strategy stresses that the United States views the climate crisis as an existential challenge in today's era—as global warming puts Americans and people around the world at risk and risks food and water supplies, public health, infrastructure, and national security—it affirms its commitment to advancing the detailed goals. To confront the climate and energy crisis according to the plan of the sustainable development goals, and at the same time open the door wide for private companies in the United States and the world to continue working on industrial and technical transformation projects in the field of energy.
And this is what the Biden administration has already done this year, as the strategy makes clear that work on the challenge of the climate and energy crisis in the United States has already begun, and that the Biden administration is making unprecedented investments for generations in the transition to clean energy through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). (IRA) for 2022, which will create millions of well-paying jobs, boost American industries, and increase federal, state, and local preparedness against increasingly severe climate threats, and the Biden administration is working to integrate climate change into national security plans and policies.
To help the Biden administration do this, the IRA created a special program titled 17 (section 1706) to reinvest in energy infrastructure and guarantee loans for projects needed to do so. September 2026, with a total loan ceiling of $250 billion, and this law is considered the largest investment in climate and energy in American history to confront the climate crisis, promote environmental justice, and secure the United States' position as a global leader in domestic clean energy manufacturing and achieve Biden's climate goals, according to the rationale of the law.
The strategy states that the United States will work to motivate the world to do more to address the climate crisis, and will work over the next decade to help countries do their part to reduce emissions, tackle methane and other super pollutants, enhance carbon dioxide removal, and end global removals. Forests coordinate with allies and partners to ensure energy security and affordability, secure access to critical mineral supply chains, and create equitable transition for affected workers through relevant international institutions, the World Bank and regional development banks.
The strategy referred to the international suffering the world faced from an energy crisis caused by Russia, which was exacerbated by OPEC's management of it, which confirms the urgent need for an accelerated and fair global energy.
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