A moratorium on oil drilling on federal lands and waters as well as an international climate summit in April were announced Wednesday, January 27, by US President Joe Biden.

The newly-installed White House Democrat is due to sign an executive order later today detailing those measures, including the United States hosting a leaders' climate summit on April 22, Earth Day.

This date also corresponds to the fifth anniversary of the signing of the Paris Agreement, which the United States once again joined a few hours after Joe Biden took office.

The "pause" on granting new concessions for oil and gas drilling on government-owned land and water will not impact concessions already granted, but it will allow the new president to hold one of his campaign promises.

Gradual abandonment of fossil fuels

The United States will also commit to preserving the integrity of 30% of federal lands and waters by 2030, in order to stem the loss of biodiversity.

Joe Biden also announced that climate considerations would become an essential part of US diplomacy and security policies, and that he would reconstitute a scientific council of experts.

In addition, the US president will order federal agencies to invest in areas economically dependent on fossil fuels, and support for populations particularly affected by the climate crisis.

Nearly a quarter of carbon dioxide emissions in the United States come from energy produced on federal land, notes a 2018 government report.

And the granting of oil, gas, or coal mining concessions generated nearly $ 11.7 billion in revenue for the US government in 2019, according to figures from the Department of the Interior.

With this series of measures, Joe Biden is thus getting closer in a concrete way to his goal of phasing out fossil fuels, and carbon neutrality in the energy sector by 2035 and in the economy as a whole. by 2050.

A contested project

But some environmental associations, such as the NGO Oceana, want the new White House host to go even further, turning the moratorium on drilling into a permanent ban.  

"By permanently protecting our coasts from polluting drilling in the open sea and by favoring renewable sources of energy, such as offshore wind, we can simultaneously fight climate change and guarantee a green economy for our coasts", explains Diane. Hoskins, Oceana spokesperson on the subject.  

 The presidential project has also provoked strong criticism in the fossil fuel industry.

"Limiting the exploitation (of fossil fuels) on state lands and waters is nothing less than a policy of 'importing more oil'," laments Mike Sommers, chairman of the largest federation of oil and gas industry professionals in the United States.

"The demand for energy will continue to increase, especially with the improvement of the economic situation, and we can choose to produce this energy here in the United States or to depend on foreign countries hostile to American interests", he continues. .

Climate summit

The planned climate summit will be an opportunity for the world's leading power to "sit down at the table of discussions with the others" in order to advance the fight against global warming, before the big conference of the UN on the climate (COP26) in the United Kingdom in November, underlines David Waskow of the World Resources Institute.

The expert expects Washington to raise its environmental targets, with a potential horizon of a 50% drop in total greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, compared to 2005 levels.  

The Democratic President is also due to present to Congress next month his $ 2 trillion climate plan, which is supposed to put green measures at the heart of the US economy.

He could, however, face the reluctance of elected Republican officials, even if a bipartite agreement remains possible.

"We must not forget that states like Texas and Wyoming also have strong wind potential," said Sherri Goodman, who worked on environmental issues under the Obama administration.

"The acceleration of the melting of glaciers, pack ice, the collapse of permafrost (deep frozen soils) and the increase in temperatures underline the importance of the recognition of the climate as an essential element of our foreign policy", adds she does.  

With AFP

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