By Haisten Willis
President Joe Biden touted his accomplishments and legacy in a climate change-focused speech in New York City.
Speaking at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum, Biden said that legislation like the $891 billion Inflation Reduction Act will help the United States lead the world in the fight against climate change.
“[The bill was] the most significant climate law ever passed the history of the world,” Biden said. “We were told it couldn’t get done, but we did it. More than $369 billion in climate and clean energy and not a single Republican voted for it.”
But not all of his remarks were focused on the climate. Biden took multiple shots at former President Donald Trump, contending that “there was no real plan in place to do anything about [the climate]. As the government, we were doing nothing” when Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris came into office.
Biden took another dig at Trump later.
“All this historic climate change is in stark contrast to my predecessor,” Biden said. “He says he’d repeal the Inflation Reduction Act. He’d let our factories shut down. He moved the world backwards. His denial of climate change condemns our future generations to a more dangerous world.”
Billionaire and former presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg introduced Biden.
“I think it’s fair to say no president has done more to push our country forward on climate change, starting on Joe’s first day in office when he brought the U.S. back into the Paris climate agreement,” Bloomberg said. “He has wisely put fighting climate change at the center of his work, strengthening the economy, showing how the two go hand in hand.”
Bloomberg was in turn introduced by actress Jane Fonda, who praised him for taking on the coal industry and “f***ing fossil gas.”
“Mike’s superpower is bringing people together from different sectors and different fields to solve some of the world’s biggest problems,” Fonda said.
During his presidency, Biden said he’d flown over wildfires that in total covered more land than the state of Maryland and toured communities hit by tornadoes and floods that cost billions of dollars in damage.
He emphasized that he doesn’t see a conflict between boosting the economy and combatting climate change, saying that “when I think climate, I think jobs … good union paying jobs.” The Inflation Reduction Act had created more than 330,000 clean energy jobs, Biden claimed.
The bill includes tax credits for solar panels and energy-efficient appliances, and Biden said private companies have invested nearly $1 trillion in clean energy projects since he took office.
“This year, we’ll add more new electric capacity than we have in two decades, and 96% of that will be clean energy,” Biden said. “We’ve quadrupled the development of electric vehicles since I took office. We’re deploying a fleet of clean school buses that will not pollute the air. Our postal service is going fully electric.”
Trump has sharply criticized Biden’s electric vehicle push on the campaign trail, saying the initiative will put autoworkers out of jobs in order to make cars that blue-collar workers cannot afford.
Republicans have also criticized the Biden administration’s electric school buses. A House committee report found that electric school buses cost nearly four times as much as diesel-powered ones and have a failure rate of up to 20%.
Despite the objections, Biden said he was proud of his administration’s work on clean energy and said he sees more progress ahead.
“I’ve been doing this a long time, 51 years in elective office,” Biden said. “I give my word as a Biden, I’ve never been more optimistic about America’s future. And Michael [Bloomberg], let me go back to you. Your initiatives, your commitment, your vision, your dedication have literally changed the world. We’ve got a long way to encourage Americans to be convinced once again that we can do anything.”
