Juliet Eilperin, Brady Dennis & Darryl Fears
The president plans far-reaching actions to cut carbon emissions, aid polluted communities and shift the nation away from fossil fuels. The administration will treat climate change as the emergency that it is, one top adviser says.
President Biden will take sweeping steps Wednesday to combat climate change, including pausing new oil and gas leases on public lands and placing environmental justice at the core of federal action, calling it a matter of national security.
Biden will also establish a White House office of environmental justice to help ensure that minority and low-income communities are not overburdened by pollution, and direct federal agencies to focus more attention on these areas when they make decisions affecting the environment.
The actions, contained in two executive orders, represent a dramatic shift from the Trump administration and signal that Biden is moving quickly to fulfill campaign pledges on climate change.
