With help from Anthony Adragna and Alex Guillén.
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— Climate envoy John Kerry’s trip to China yielded a statement from Beijing, which joined with the White House in reaffirming the countries’ collaboration on climate despite growing cross-Pacific tensions.
— Democrats are having a tough time selling coal miners and other fossil fuel workers on their promises to deliver a “just transition” to new jobs in a clean energy economy.
— President Joe Biden plans to roll out the U.S.’ new emissions goals under the Paris climate agreement this week as he prepares to host heads of state at his virtual climate leaders summit.
WELCOME TO MONDAY! I’m your host, Matthew Choi. Congratulations to Khary Cauthen of Cheniere for knowing Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state in India. For today’s trivia: Golda Meir attended what American university? Send your tips and trivia answers to [email protected]. Find me on Twitter @matthewchoi2018.
Check out the POLITICO Energy podcast — all the energy and environmental politics and policy news you need to start your day, in just five minutes. Listen and subscribe for free at politico.com/energy-podcast. On today’s episode: America’s big climate comeback.
THE CLIMATE IN CHINA: Kerry’s climate shuttle diplomacy won a strong public pledge of support over the weekend, with Beijing joining the U.S. in a statement from the two top greenhouse gas emitters that they would fight climate change “with the seriousness and urgency that it demands.” The statement will lend some momentum to the White House’s push to turn the climate leaders summit that Biden is hosting on Thursday and Friday into a meaningful event ahead of the international talks in November.
The U.S.-China joint statement, which reaffirmed the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, came after three days of talks between Kerry and the Chinese team led by Xie Zhenhua in Shanghai. And it also followed a statement from the White House and Japan after Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s visit to Washington that the two countries would seek to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. That’s a decade faster than the goal promised by Chinese President Xi Jinping last year. Pro’s Zack Colman has more on the U.S.-China statement here.
But it’s still not certain that Xi will participate in Biden’s climate summit this week. The State Department deferred to the Chinese government, and China’s MoFA didn’t get back to ME. (Kerry told a Korean reporter that China has to make its own announcement on that front).
Regardless of the cooperative tone in the Sino-American statement, relations between the two countries are tense. Disputes over China’s human rights record and growing concerns over its possible aggression toward Taiwan were big topics on Friday during Biden’s bilat with Suga, who was the first foreign head of government to visit the Biden White House. South Korea’s Moon Jae-in plans to travel to the U.S. next month — a sign of Biden’s keen attention to democracies in the region. Suga also issued stern comments in Washington on the “severe security environment” in the South China Sea, which angered Beijing, the Financial Times reports
DEMOCRAT’S BIG CHALLENGE: Democrats are pushing their climate measures as a potential boon for jobs in fossil fuel communities. But the promise of a “just transition” can evoke eye rolls from labor and local leaders who say the party’s talk is wholly out of touch with the realities on the ground. From lower wages to sharply different work cultures, the new jobs Democrats tout in the clean energy sector can be a tough message to sell.
Fossil fuel workers feel disrespected, said Sen. Joe Manchin. “For them to be chastised the way they have been and attacked unmercifully and trying to attack their way of life [is wrong]. … If there’s a transition, fine, we understand that,” the West Virginian said. “They expect to be treated fairly and [given] an opportunity.”
Pro’s Zack Colman and Anthony Adragna took a deep dive into the longstanding dilemma for Democrats: how to convince energy workers a transition to green energy could work for them too.
O NDC, WHERE ART THOU: All of Washington is waiting for Biden to reveal the U.S.’s new domestic climate target, known as the Nationally Determined Contribution, or NDC, under the Paris agreement. The rumor zipping around town is that it will call for cutting carbon emissions by around 50 percent below 2005 levels by 2030, an aggressive target. Biden’s climate adviser, Gina McCarthy, spent last week teasing the figure on a marathon of Zoom calls with supporters, declining to describe the NDC but promising on Friday that the White House is “prepared to make an announcement on what that looks like over the coming week.” Also unclear is how it will be rolled out — Rose Garden event? Papal-style smoke signals? A leak to the press?
METHANE, TOO: The administration could also be eyeing methane for major reductions under the NDC, Bloomberg reports. While methane forms a much smaller share of U.S. emissions, it’s estimated the gas warms the atmosphere 84 times more than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period.
HAALAND ORDERS: Interior Secretary Deb Haaland ordered the creation of a new climate task force on Friday that would “coordinate work across the Department, including accelerating renewable energy development and identifying actions to foster investments in energy communities.”
Haaland also issued an order rescinding a dozen orders from the Trump administration that pushed to expand energy production on public lands and waters. The orders were “found to be inconsistent with, or present obstacles to, the policy set forth in” Biden’s January executive order directing agencies to focus on combating climate change and bolster clean energy jobs, the secretarial order states.
Though environmentalists praised the move, Kevin O’Scannlain, vice president of upstream policy for the American Petroleum Institute, warned that doing so would simply incentivize “greater reliance on foreign energy with lower environmental standards and coal for power generation. Enacting such policies will likely result in higher GHG emissions domestically, precisely the opposite of the administration’s intended effect.” Ben Lefebvre has more for Pros.
OKLAHOMA, INTERIOR FIGHT OVER MINE OVERSIGHT: Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter is gearing up for a legal battle with the Interior Department over regulatory jurisdiction in the Sooner State. The Supreme Court last year ruled that a large chunk of Oklahoma is actually still a tribal reservation, reverting some authorities from the state government to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. Interior’s Office of Surface Mining, which oversees mine clean-ups, earlier this month wrote to Oklahoma officials to argue that in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling, Oklahoma “may no longer administer… a regulatory program” in the areas that are now reservation lands.
In a response sent Friday, Hunter blasted OSM’s legal arguments and said there is no “practical reason” to assert federal jurisdiction. “Because your demand appears to have no adequate basis in law, I am advising that no state agency should comply with it without further discussion,” he wrote.
ARE YOU HEARING ME NOW? Biden’s Cabinet will be busy on Capitol Hill this week pushing his budget priorities and trying to sell his American Jobs Plan. Some hearing highlights that caught ME’s eye:
— Cabinet bonanza: On Tuesday, EPA Administrator Michael Regan testifies before the Senate Appropriations Committee alongside Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Biden’s jobs plan. Details here.
— Feels like coming home: Haaland links up with her former House colleagues when she appears at a Appropriations subcommittee on Tuesday at 10 a.m. to discuss her agency’s budget request. Details here.
— More Regan: The EPA chief also heads to a House Appropriations subpanel on Wednesday at 10 a.m. to testify on the agency’s budget request, his first solo appearance since confirmation. More here.
— Not enough for ya? There are also interesting looking hearings at the Climate Crisis Committee on job creation from climate action Tuesday at noon, one on jobs linked to offshore wind in a House Natural Resources subcommittee Tuesday at 2:30 p.m., and another examining a possible “Federal Climate Service” in a House Science subcommittee Wednesday at 11 a.m. And on Thursday, a Senate Banking Committee convenes a hearing on opportunities in clean energy at 10 a.m.
One more: The House Oversight Environment Subcommittee will hold a hearing Thursday featuring testimony from climate advocate Greta Thunberg. ME advises members not to expect happy talk from the Swedish teen, who told a room of Democrats in 2019 “I know you’re trying, but just not hard enough. Sorry.” Her testimony will come around the same time the Senate Energy Committee hears testimony on “carbon and carbon-dioxide (CO2) utilization technologies,” which many environmental groups deride as a false solution to climate change.
GOP CHALLENGE BIDEN ON PARIS: A trio of senior Republicans are going after Biden’s new climate goals with legislation directing the Paris climate agreement to be renegotiated to ensure China reaches emissions reductions in line with the U.S.’ climate goals. It would also require any new U.S. reduction goals to be submitted to Congress. Anthony has more for Pros.
GOP CLIMATE PROPOSAL: Republicans on the House Agriculture Committee introduced a climate change package focusing on agricultural incentives‚ an alternative to the Growing Climate Solutions Act, which is expected to be introduced by Sen. Debbie Stabenow. Ximena Bustillo goes into what’s inside for Pros.
COMPETING INTERESTS FOR FARMERS: Farmers are eager for some infrastructure development, updating crumbling rural roads and expanding access to high speed internet in the highly technologically advanced sector. And with Biden’s infrastructure proposal allocating $1 billion for agriculture climate initiatives, many of its provisions would seem to find favor with the sector.
But trade groups are hesitant to sign on to a package that could overlook biofuel producers in favor of EV development. And with the funding question shining a spotlight on an accompanying tax overhaul, farmers fear the estate tax — their anathema — could enter the equation. Read more on how agriculture is responding to the infrastructure plan from Pro’s Ryan McCrimmon.
TEHRAN POINTS THE FINGER: Iran named a suspect in the apparent attack on a nuclear facility in Natanz that it has blamed on Israel. The country’s state media said there was “no cyberattack” as Israeli media had claimed and that 43-year-old Reza Karimi, an Iranian-born man who fled the country shortly before the incident, was suspected to have planted explosives. The Associated Press has more.
The episode upped tensions as Iran continues negotiations over the 2015 nuclear deal. The country has moved to enrich uranium up to 60 percent purity — far beyond the parameters of the nuclear deal. Biden condemned the move as “contrary to the agreement,” but said he was still encouraged that Iran is still engaging in the negotiations. “I think it’s premature to make a judgment as to what the outcomes will be, but we’re still talking,” Biden said.
Kenny Roberts, a Democratic political strategist and former director of federal relations for the American Petroleum Institute, is joining Invariant’s government relations team. (H/t POLITICO Influence)
— “Class warfare? Biden prepares tax hikes on high-income Americans,” via POLITICO.
— ”In the climate change fight, the Interior Department becomes a battlefield,” via The Washington Post.
— “UN climate talks move online, but lose formal status,” via POLITICO.
— “Texas energy companies push back against Berkshire Hathaway’s $8 billion plan for backup power,” via The Texas Tribune.
THAT’S ALL FOR ME!
