President Joe Biden Reflects on his Climate Legacy | Mike Bloomberg

Now it is my pleasure to introduce our next speaker. And we're honored to have him with us as President Joe Biden. Nice round of applause for Joe. I've had many chances to work with Joe on issues that we both care deeply about, including preventing gun violence. Thanks to his leadership in the White House, Congress passed the first major gun safety bill in a generation. And it's one of those many issues where he's been able to work across the aisle and bring people together. Another one of those issues, his major focus has been on climate change. 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 Agreement. And he has wisely put, yes, he deserves a round of applause for that, he has wisely put fighting climate change at the center of his work, strengthening the economy, showing how the two go hand in hand. Once again, Joe reached across the aisle and helped push through Congress major bills on climate and infrastructure. They have led to a surge of new investment in clean energy and created unprecedented opportunities for cities to raise their climate ambitions, because Joe does understand that mayors are powerful allies in the climate fight. Joe has set high goals for cutting admissions, and he supported the kind of bottom-up action we need to achieve these goals, including strong partnerships with business. And Bloomberg Philanthropies has been glad to collaborate closely with him and his team. We are committed to doing everything we can to build on the climate progress that he has started, and so I want to thank him for all of his leadership. Now, before I welcome Joe to the stage, we're going to hear from a few others who want to thank President Biden. Play the video. Democrats say it's the longest ever single climate investment in history. The most concerted, ambitious pledge on carbon emissions we have ever had in this country, but not. This new law could slash U.S. carbon dioxide emissions by 40 percent by 2030. The Inflation Reduction Act includes more than $400 billion of new spending. President Biden. Thank you. Thank you, President Joe Biden. President Biden has been the most effective and impactful climate champion our nation's ever seen. We've proven to the world that change is possible. Thank you for everything you're doing to accelerate the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy. For delivering the largest climate and clean energy investments of any government anywhere in the world. For making historic investments to accelerate our green economy, put Americans back to work. Limiting new offshore oil and gas drilling in key coastal areas. Demonstrates the leadership across the globe. He also delivered by setting aside hundreds of billions of dollars for environmental justice communities. Thanks to President Biden, Congress and EPA have done more for the climate in the last four years than ever before. Thank you, President Biden, for keeping your promise. Thank you for your leadership. Let's keep making progress. No other administration in history has been this committed to the climate crisis. Because of you, we are on the right path for generations to come. Thank you for ensuring that our communities have a say in our future. For our children and grandchildren, how we need it, what a difference you're making. Thank you. And on behalf of the entire climate movement. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome President Joe Biden. Thank you. If I were smart, I'd leave now. Thank you all so very much. Mr. Mayor. Michael, thank you. You know, I awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom because you literally revolutionized our economy. It's not hyperbole. You transformed how we consume information. You challenged and solved the toughest issues. And thank you for hosting this important forum. And thank all the business leaders here today. And thank my cabinet members for their work as well. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm is here, EPA Administrator Michael Reagan is here. You know, four years ago, Kamala and I inherited the worst pandemic in a century, the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. I got to hold them in here and tell you a little story. When I when I sat in the Oval Office every morning at nine o'clock and then ended the day with Barack for eight years, and there was only one there was only one portrait above the fireplace, a portrait of George Washington, fairly small, but a beautiful portrait. And so I when I didn't realize at the time, all the times I've been in the Oval, that the incoming president cannot go into the Oval on the 20th until after four o'clock. And the outgoing president has to leave by 10, although the outgoing president never showed up anyway. So I asked my brother, Jim, who has a better taste than I do, to pick what we needed for to pick what desk you want, what rug, you know, the things you want in your office. And I said I only wanted a couple of things. I wanted to make sure I had the resolute desk and I wanted looking next to the next to the fireplace. I wanted a the bust of Martin Luther King, who was one of my heroes as I was coming up as a young civil rights guy, and Bobby Kennedy. I have great great admiration for John Kennedy, but I can never picture him at my kitchen table anyway. So we're standing, I walk in and my brother's showing me and I look up and there's this giant portrait of Franklin Roosevelt. And and John Meacham was on the phone on the speaker. And I said, why Franklin Roosevelt? I admired him, but why Franklin Roosevelt? No one's inherited an economy more disarrayed than when Franklin Roosevelt was president. I said, isn't that wonderful? Swear to God, true story. Look to the left, there's Abraham Lincoln. I said, why Abraham Lincoln? I admired the hell out of Lincoln, but why? He said, the country has never been as divided since the Civil War. I said, I'm the hell out of here anyway. But look, a lot's changed. A lot's changed. I just met with the president of the UAE, who is a massive investor in clean energy around the world. That's what he wanted to talk to me about. I just hosted a three-day conference at the Quad in Delaware, Prime Minister of India, Australia, and Japan, three of the fastest-growing economies in the world. They understand you can't remain dependent on fossil fuels. They need to lean the clean energy future. I had a discussion with the president of Kenya, whom I hosted in the state for a state visit. Kenya is also a global leader in clean energy. Together, we've launched the U.S.-Kenya Climate and Clean Energy Industrial Partnership. All this matters. Now, I want to pivot to home here. Since I've been president, I've flown over more wildfires, unfortunately, it's the God's truth, in helicopters, from Arizona, Idaho, all the way to Montana. And more acreage, I've looked down, I've seen more acreage burned on the ground, to the ground, than the entire state of Maryland, in terms of the area. Just wildfires. I've toured the community, ravaged by tornadoes and floods. More than costs lives and livelihoods, it costs taxpayers billions of dollars in damage. But when Kamala and I came to office, there was no real plan, place to do anything about it. As a government, we were doing nothing, virtually nothing. We were determined, not only to deliver immediate economic relief to the American people, but to transform how our economy works in the long term, to write a new economic playbook, to grow the economy from the middle out and the bottom up, instead of the top down. That way, workers do well, no one's left behind, and the wealthy still do very well. And foster fair competition. Invest in all of America, in all Americans. And I've been pointing out, when it comes to the climate, every time I talk about it, whether I was trying to convince labor or business to come along, I'd say, I think climate, I think jobs. I think jobs. And I mean it. Good union-paying jobs. In fact, I'm proud to have kept my commitment to bring unions and business to the climate table. That's what we're seeing. Rather than climate conservation, about sacrifice, conversations about sacrifice, or focus on doing less, Kamala and I have pursued an ambitious climate policy focused on growth. And the public and private sector led, all of you in this audience, you've led, building our economic capacity. Together we've proven a strong middle class, thriving innovation and manufacturing are the key to winning climate here at home and abroad. Here are the key climate pages from the new economic playbook. We rejoined the Paris Agreement immediately after my predecessor had walked away. We got to work planning private capital off, or pulling private capital off the sidelines, getting the workers in the game, and once again, leading the world on climate. Bringing jobs back home, manufacturing and technology. We invented here in the United States decades ago, bringing it back. We're bringing back hope and pride in communities. Opening shuttered factories and zip codes too often left behind. I might point out I was criticized very much for having done more to invest in red states than blue states, but I made a commitment that when I ran, I'd be present for all people, all people, whether they voted for me or not. And we're doing that in what I call investing in America agenda. I wrote and signed a law, the Inflation Reduction Act, most significant climate law ever passed in the history of the world. We were told it couldn't get done, but we did it. More than $369 billion in climate and clean energy. Not a single Republican voted for it, but the Inflation Reduction Act lowers energy costs for families with rebates and tax credits to install rooftop solar and energy-efficient appliances, weatherizing their windows and doors and high-tech insulation, and more efficient heating and cooling systems, and so much more. And you get a tax credit for doing it. The groundbreaking laws also catalyze clean energy innovation in areas like battery technology, nuclear energy, geothermal, that will create hundreds of thousands of jobs for American workers. In fact, along with other historic investments in infrastructure, and our infrastructure bill was $1.3 trillion in science and technology, private companies in the United States and globally have announced investments of nearly $1 trillion in clean energy manufacturing here in America in the last three years. And you all are the leaders of that. You're the ones. We're just getting started. In the face of the dangerous and deadly impacts of climate change, we're also making our cities and towns more resilient. This is a new formula on climate, creating jobs, reducing pollution, cleaning up our water and air, improving our quality of life, building a better America. For example, a once-in-a-generation modernization of our grid means this year we'll add more new electric capacity than we have in two decades, and 96 percent of that will be clean energy. I went to the University of Delaware, and the university professor was the first professor, the first solar-powered building that inspired residential solar adaptation. More than 80 percent of the solar panels and components are manufactured in China, though. But now we're turning that around. American solar panel manufacturing is up four times what it was four years ago, with more to come. America inherited and invented the lithium-ion battery technology that's powering our clean energy transformation, including electric vehicles and the grid. When Kamala came to office, America was barely making any of these batteries, while other countries are commercializing them. But not anymore. There are more than 14 gigafactors, massive, large-scale factories, opening or under construction to make advanced batteries here in America, and more to come. We're also making the battery components here in America, making sure the supply chain starts in America. And all this is helping power an electric revolution in transportation. We've quadrupled the development of electric vehicle since it took office. We're deploying a fleet of clean school buses that will not only – will not pollute the air. Our postal service is going fully electric. We've invested $45 billion in electric trains in America. Because if a person can choose between a car and a train to get to the destination at the same time, 70 to 80 percent of that, they will take the train. And it's 70 to 80 percent less pollution than driving the same distance. And we now have tools to lower emissions from building materials. For the first time ever, we're beginning to produce clean steel, cement, and aluminum. I think most Americans have no idea how much pollution has occurred when you – when you make cement. Well, the American people know how much pollution heavy industries produce, since each one produces as much pollution as a small country. We're now making the most significant investment ever in rural America. Eighty thousand farms across America are implementing climate-smart agriculture. Cover crops, nutrient management, storing carbon in the soil, which creates new sources of wealth for farmers and families at the same time. We're also carrying out the most ambitious conservation agenda in a long time. We're on track to conserve a commitment I made – 30 percent of all our lands and waters – by the year 2030. Since taking office, my administration has already conserved over 42 million acres. The Inflation Reduction Act is also the most significant law ever advanced in environmental justice for disadvantaged and so-called fence-line communities, like Cancer Alley in Louisiana or Route 9 corridor in Delaware. We're making sure these communities receive 40 percent of the benefits of the key investments in pollution reduction, clean energy infrastructure. All this matters. It matters a great deal. Just under four years, the economy has created nearly 16 million jobs, the most ever in a single presidential term. In just two years since the Inflation Reduction Act, we've created more than 330,000 clean energy jobs. Now, I should say, you created it. You created that. Clean energy jobs are going twice as fast as the economy overall. Clean energy workers, the joint union, is the highest level in history. And I'm really proud to have launched the American Climate Corps, patterned after the Peace Corps and American Corps, to put tens of thousands of young people on the path to good-paying clean energy jobs to improve our environment and grow our economy. And, you know, the United States has reasserted America's position as a global leader in climate. We're leading an all-out effort to partner with nations to reduce global emissions, to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. You all remember when Putin invaded Ukraine, which sent food and energy prices soaring around the world and showing just how volatile and fragile a fossil-fuel-based economy can be. The United States rallied the world against Putin's aggression. We've led the world in releasing oil reserves and stabilizing global energy markets, while also working as quickly as possible to deploy clean energy resources. You know, I convened summit leaders on climate and the American Leaders' Summit — the African Leaders' Summit, I should say. In COP 28, the United States galvanized the world to commit, for the first time, to transition away from unabated fossil fuels. Across the board, America's climate leadership has encouraged American companies to invest in private capital for clean energy development and to low- to middle-income nations. And so much more. I thank the business leaders who are here today for leading the way, and I mean that. All this historic climate change is in stark contrast to my predecessor. He says he'd repeal the Inflation Reduction Act. He'd let our factories shut down. He'd move the world backwards. His denial of climate change condemns our future generations to a more dangerous world. And by the way, windmills do not cause cancer. I think we've laid out a better choice. And today, we're in a better position than any other nation in the world to promote a clean energy future. In fact, it's a perfect time to go big. The market for clean energy is booming. Inflation is way down in America. The Federal Reserve just announced lowering interest rates, and I predict they'll go further down. We should give business even more confidence to invest trillions of dollars that are on the sidelines in the clean energy industries of the future. I'm doing my part, and I'm calling on other companies with the capital in the room to invest more and do more. Now's the time. Let me close with this. For years, though, we've gone from historic crisis to historic process – progress. And in doing it, with a new playbook based on one of the oldest truths of our nation – invest in America, believe in America, believe in possibilities, and share it with the world. That's what I see if I could see all of you when I look at all of you. I really mean this. I know I only look like I'm 40 years old, but I'm a little older. You know, I've been doing this a long time – 51 years in elective office. And it's hard to say. It's hard to say. But I give my words. I'm never more optimistic about America's future. And, Michael, let me go back to you. Your initiatives, your commitment, your vision, your dedication have literally changed the world and gone a long way to encourage the Americans to be convinced once again that we can do anything. We just remember who the hell we are. We're the United States of America. There is nothing beyond our capacity when we act together. Folks, as a student of history, we're the only nation in the world that's come out of every major crisis we've entered stronger than we went in. Every single time. This assembly in this room, you're the leaders not only in America, you're the world. The rest of the world looks to us. It's not about my being president. I give you my word. Think about it. If we didn't lead, who the hell leads? Who fills the vacuum without America leading? That's who we are. That's our obligation. And that's our incredible opportunity. So, folks, I really am optimistic. I really mean it. You listen, I didn't even go into all the things that are going on in the rest of the world in terms of how they want to transition away from fossil fuels, want to use peaceful nuclear technology, a whole range of things. Hydrogen. So many things are on the table. And we can do this. We really can. We owe it to our children. And quite frankly, we owe it to lead the world. If my mom was here, she'd say, Joey, end it, OK? And I will. So God bless you all. May God protect our troops. Thank you very, very much. Every time I walk out of my grandfather's Finnegan's house up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, he yelled, Joey, keep the faith. My grandmother, no, Joey, spread it. Let's spread the faith.