The likelihood of any sort of major legislation that would address the very real threat of climate change passing through the U.S. Senate is extremely unlikely. President Biden’s Build Back Better Act failed to pass, and negotiations for a new spending bill that includes funds for clean energy has been stifled by coal kingpin Joe Manchin. For Biden to make any sort of progress on his promise to address the climate crisis, he’ll almost certainly need to take action on his own. That’s why some are calling for the president to declare a climate emergency.
For the first time, it seems like the administration is actually considering the possibility (though the ever-cautious Biden may back off for the time being in order to keep conversations with Manchin open). So what would happen, exactly, if Biden finally made good on his promise to address climate change and decided to declare a climate emergency to get it done?
