How a ‘Climate Emergency’ Could Harness Wartime Powers

Feb 12, 2021

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This week: climate change is certainly the most urgent issue we face. But should it be formally declared an emergency?

There’s a real conversation over the label in the US -- and it could have a very real impact on what the president can do.

This has been a growing priority for environmental groups. Grist reported that in December, more than 380 of them sent a letter to Joe Biden’s transition team, urging him to issue an executive order mobilizing the National Emergencies Act.

And now, Rep. Earl Blumenauer and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the House and Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Senate among others just introduced The National Climate Emergency Act of 2021,

Then: what could be the counter-impact? Changes across the energy economy are set to accelerate. If we don’t do it correctly, are we facing a “Yellow Vest” protest movement like we saw recently in France?

And last: a new study shows that some cities are grossly under-reporting their carbon emissions. Do cities even have the resources to measure them properly?

Resources:

Grist: AOC, Sanders, and Blumenauer press Biden to declare a ‘climate emergency’
Vice: AOC and Bernie Are Teaming Up to Get Biden to Declare Climate Change a National Emergency
Vox: “We risk a yellow vest movement”: Why the US clean energy transition must be equitable
New York Times: U.S. Cities Are Vastly Undercounting Emissions, Researchers Find

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