President Biden will host a world energy and climate forum Friday with counterparts from across the globe in a bid to reassert America’s commitment to tackling climate change.
But the Democrat is caught between a rock and a hard place with environmentalists and progressives in his own party heading into the multinational meeting, a political quagmire that will become increasingly difficult to navigate as the midterm elections draw near.
Green activists, a core part of his base that will be closely watching Mr. Biden’s remarks, have grown increasingly frustrated with the president’s inability to take aggressive action to push the economy off fossil fuels and to renewable energy.
Meanwhile, the president has been forced to encourage more fossil fuel production in the face of $5-per-gallon gas and the highest inflation in four decades — political nightmares that jeopardize Democrats’ control of Washington this November.
“The reality is fuel prices aren’t going to drop significantly. You have to make the case to Americans we’ll be going through this time and time again, as long as we rely on unreliable sources of fossil fuels,” Democratic strategist Brad Bannon said.
“It may not be the easiest message, but sometimes presidents have to look forward to the future,” he said.
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Climate groups and some of the most liberal lawmakers on Capitol Hill want Mr. Biden to use his opportunity at the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate to hold Big Oil’s feet to the fire rather than undermining environmental objectives by promoting more oil and gas production to blunt fuel costs.
“What I really want to hear from him is taking on the profiteering of oil and gas companies. We need him to be stronger,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Washington Democrat.
The Progressive Caucus chair insisted that oil companies aren’t interested in driving down prices and that Mr. Biden has been too friendly with the energy sector, despite the anti-fossil fuel rhetoric during his campaign and actions against pipelines and leases during his presidency.
“I think he’s been using a ‘let’s work with oil companies’ [attitude]. But I don’t think these companies are interested in bringing down the price because it’s making too much money for them,” Ms. Jayapal said. “I do think we need a stick here.”
Kat Maier, the national coordinator of the youth-led climate action group Fridays for Future, suggested that world leaders with ambitious carbon-cutting goals — Mr. Biden included — have failed to lay out a detailed strategy or take any major actions toward fulfilling those goals.
She cited the administration’s efforts to transition to electric school buses and the international community’s goal to avoid a 1.5°C rise in global temperature, a benchmark laid out in the Paris climate accords as the point of irreparable environmental damage.
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For the U.S., that would mean slashing emissions from 2005 levels in half by 2030, a milestone that the country is not remotely on pace to achieve.
“I get the targets are going to be hard, but we’re not even doing the low-hanging fruit,” Ms. Maier said. “Getting to a stable, green electric grid — all-electric school buses are not even a drop in the bucket. It’s a great gesture, but we need a lot more.”
At last year’s forum, Mr. Biden stressed the urgent need to combat climate change and said the world was at a reflection point.
The White House said this year’s message will be to “tackle the global climate crisis, urgently address rising costs around the world exacerbated by Russia’s war on Ukraine and put the U.S. and allies on a path to long-term energy and food security.”
The meeting will consist of countries responsible for 80% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions, though the White House did not identify them.
The American Petroleum Institute, which represents oil and natural gas companies, said it hopes Mr. Biden strikes a balance between climate action and domestic energy security needs.
“We all recognize the dual challenges in the world: providing energy that’s affordable and reliable while at the same time the climate reality must be addressed,” said API President and CEO Mike Sommers. “We think you can do both, it’s not and/or.”
Mr. Biden this week accused oil companies of purposely limiting their refining capacities to drive up prices at the pump while at the same time asking them to do more.
The move prompted fierce pushback from the industry that his rhetoric toward them only hinders their efforts to increase output in the face of complex refining limitations.
The government’s Energy Information Administration says no refineries with “significant” capacity have been built since a Marathon-owned facility in Louisiana went online some 45 years ago in 1977.
The White House has continued to walk a fine line between calling for more domestic energy production while advocating for more climate change initiatives.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday that the administration wants energy companies to focus on refining existing oil supplies but to avoid new drilling.
She reiterated the administration’s belief that gas prices can be lowered while advancing its environmental goals, though she also accused Big Oil of being war profiteers.
Oil refineries “are using this moment, that there is a war in Ukraine, to actually make a profit when there are steps that they can take so that we can actually lower gas prices for families,” Ms. Jean-Pierre said. “The president has taken action, he’s been a leader, and now he’s asking Congress to take action [on climate] … and the oil refineries to do their part and not make money off a time of war.”
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
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