White House officials are weighing whether to declare a national climate emergency several months out from the 2024 election, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
President Joe Biden’s top advisers have returned to conversations about declaring such a national climate emergency, though those in discussion appear to be divided on the move, the sources told Bloomberg. While the move, the sources say, would stunt offshore drilling and curb greenhouse gas emissions, others think the move would help energize youth voters, particularly those with a focus on climate, Bloomberg reported. (RELATED: Biden Reportedly Plans To Go Full Steam Ahead With Same Strategy Despite Disastrous Polling)
“President Biden has treated the climate crisis as an emergency since day one and will continue to build a clean energy future that lowers utility bills, creates good-paying union jobs, makes our economy the envy of the world and prioritizes communities that for too long have been left behind,” White House spokesperson Angelo Fernandez Hernandez told the outlet while not commenting directly on the reported discussions.
US President Joe Biden speaks at the Action on Forests and Land Use session, during the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in the Scottish city of Glasgow on November 2, 2021. – World leaders meeting at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow will issue a multibillion-dollar pledge to end deforestation by 2030 but that date is too distant for campaigners who want action sooner to save the planet’s lungs. (Photo by ERIN SCHAFF/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
U.S. Climate Adviser John Kerry (R) adjusts his headphones next to U.S. President Joe Biden (L) as they attend a meeting focused on action and solidarity at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, on November 1, 2021. – COP26, running from October 31 to November 12, 2021 in Glasgow, will be the biggest climate conference since the 2015 Paris summit and is seen as crucial in setting worldwide emission targets to slow global warming, as well as firming up other key commitments. (Photo by KEVIN LAMARQUE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
SHARM EL SHEIKH, EGYPT – NOVEMBER 11: U.S. President Joe Biden speaks at the UNFCCC COP27 climate conference on November 11, 2022 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. The conference is bringing together political leaders and representatives from 190 countries to discuss climate-related topics including climate change adaptation, climate finance, decarbonisation, agriculture and biodiversity. The conference is running from November 6-18. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
The decision, Bloomberg notes, has not been made and such conversations could carry on for as long as several years. The president’s administration previously considered a similar measure in 2022 once negotiations over clean-energy legislation failed, Bloomberg reported. Biden also said he had declared a climate emergency in 2023 when he implemented “conservation policies,” the outlet reported.
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks during a climate event at the White House complex November 14, 2023 in Washington, DC. Biden spoke on his administration’s efforts to address the global climate crisis and the Fifth National Climate Assessment. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Ahead of the 2024 election, such a move could help Biden win over some of the youth vote as the president trails hypothetical matchups with former President Donald Trump, Bloomberg reported.
The Sunrise Movement, Fridays For Future USA and the Campus Climate Network, all youth climate activist networks, are planning protests surrounding Earth Day in an effort to put pressure on the president to declare a climate emergency, Bloomberg reported.
“If Biden wants to win the youth vote, he needs to take forceful action on climate change,” Aru Shiney-Ajay, the Sunrise Movement’s executive director, told the outlet.
(From left) British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, President of Congo Felix Tshisekedi and President Joe Biden stand before speaking at the Action on Forests and Land Use session, during the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in the Scottish city of Glasgow on November 2, 2021. – World leaders meeting at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow will issue a multibillion-dollar pledge to end deforestation by 2030 but that date is too distant for campaigners who want action sooner to save the planet’s lungs. (Photo by ERIN SCHAFF/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 20: (L-R) U.S. President Joe Biden and Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry participate in a virtual meeting of the Major Economies Forum (MEF) on Energy and Climate in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus April 20, 2023 in Washington, DC. Countries that make up the MEF are responsible for roughly 80 percent of both global gross domestic product (GDP) and greenhouse gas emissions. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 21: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (second row from top, R) sits with U.S. climate envoy John Kerry as they listen to President Joe Biden speak at the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at U.N. headquarters on September 21, 2022 in New York City. After two years of holding the session virtually or in a hybrid format, 157 heads of state and representatives of government are expected to attend the General Assembly in person. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
While Biden has a lead over Trump with youth voters, the margins aren’t where they should be to help the president confidently secure reelection, Politico Playbook reported. With registered Americans under 30 years old, Biden leads the former president 50% to 37%, according to Harvard’s Institute of Politics April poll.
“For a Democrat to comfortably win the Electoral College, he or she needs to win 60 percent of the youth vote. Biden and Obama, ’12 and ’20, won 60 percent. Obama got 66 percent in ’08. [John] Kerry and Hillary Clinton got 55 percent,” John Della Volpe, director of polling at Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, told Politico Playbook. “Biden is in the mid-50s. Can you improve that to get to 60 percent? It’s within reach. But he’s going to have to get younger men and young men of color, younger men who are white, younger men in the suburbs and their urban areas to turn out.”