Analysis | Biden's first climate czar, Gina McCarthy, is getting a big ... - The Washington Post

Biden's first climate czar, Gina McCarthy, is getting a big new gig - The Washington Post

Good morning and welcome to The Climate 202! As a scheduling reminder, the newsletter is only publishing Tuesday through Thursday during the congressional recess. We’ll be back in your inbox on Tuesday.

In today’s edition, we’ll cover President Biden’s comments about a climate emergency declaration, the weather disasters testing China’s one-party political system, and the wildfires raging in Hawaii. But first:

Exclusive: Gina McCarthy is joining America Is All In to help boost awareness of the Inflation Reduction Act

Gina McCarthy, who served as President Biden’s first national climate adviser and led the Environmental Protection Agency under President Barack Obama, is joining the climate initiative America Is All In as managing co-chair, according to details shared exclusively with The Climate 202.

In her new role, McCarthy will tackle a top challenge facing Biden as he runs for reelection: Boosting public awareness of the Inflation Reduction Act at a time when few Americans say they’re familiar with the landmark climate law.

The veteran climate leader says she’s undaunted.

“It’s a pretty exciting moment. I’m a kid in a candy store,” McCarthy told The Climate 202. “This is my opportunity to make the shift away from government and actually support these federal actions.”

America Is All In is devoted to encouraging and supporting climate action among subnational leaders, including mayors, governors, tribal leaders and corporate executives. It is co-chaired by former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) and Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles.

“I’ve been in government for 44 years, even though I don’t look a day over 35,” McCarthy said, laughing, “and those 44 years taught me how government works at the local level, at the state level.”

Early in her career, McCarthy was an environmental adviser for five Massachusetts governors, including Mitt Romney. Before joining the Biden administration, she was president and CEO of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Her new position comes less than a week before the first anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act, which provided billions of dollars worth of tax credits for consumers and businesses to buy clean-energy technologies. Last month, America Is All In kicked off a Cash in on Clean Energy Tour aimed at highlighting how communities can benefit from these incentives.

- The first stop on the tour was Charlotte, where Karen Skelton, a senior policy adviser in the White House Office of Clean Energy Innovation and Implementation, outlined the incentives to more than 170 attendees from local governments, businesses and nonprofit organizations.
- In the coming months, McCarthy will travel to Orlando and Columbus, Ohio, to participate in similar events.

“This is an opportunity for me to make sure we spread the word about what’s available and excite people about these opportunities,” McCarthy said.

What climate law?

Recent polling shows that most Americans could use a primer on the Inflation Reduction Act.

- Fewer than 3 in 10 Americans say they know a good or great deal about the climate law, according to a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll released Monday.
- About 66 percent of Americans say they have heard “little” or “nothing at all” about the law’s incentives for installing rooftop solar panels, the poll found, while around 77 percent say they’re familiar with the subsidies for buying heat pumps.

Asked how to address this lack of awareness, McCarthy said it’s not enough for major news outlets to cover the climate law — people also have to learn about it from their friends, family, co-workers and local officials.

“They also need to hear from voices that they’re familiar with,” she said. “I love reading The Washington Post. I love reading the New York Times every day. But not everybody does that. And not everybody clicks on the climate [sections].”

McCarthy also called for a greater emphasis on the economic benefits of the climate law, not just the environmental benefits. Although not everyone is passionate about combating global warming, she said, nearly all consumers care about ways to save money.

The savings from the climate law could be significant. Families who use funding from the Inflation Reduction Act to switch to greener technologies could save as much as $1,840 a year on energy costs, according to estimates from the nonprofit Rewiring America.

The Biden administration has already adjusted its sales pitch accordingly. In recent weeks, the president and Cabinet officials have fanned out across the country to promote the climate law as a key part of “Bidenomics,” an expansive vision for helping the middle class and creating millions of jobs.

“I’m not here to declare victory on the economy. We have a lot more work to do,” Biden said yesterday during a visit to an Arcosa wind tower manufacturing plant outside Albuquerque that has seen business boom since the climate law’s passage. “But we have a plan. And it’s turning things around.”

Pressure points

Biden says ‘practically speaking’ he has already declared a climate emergency

President Biden said in an interview broadcast Wednesday that “practically speaking” he has already declared a climate emergency, a step that some Democrats and activists continue to advocate, saying it would unlock broad executive powers to tackle global warming, The Washington Post’s John Wagner reports.

During an interview with the Weather Channel, Biden initially said, “I’ve already done that,” when asked if he is prepared to declare a climate emergency. When pressed on whether he has actually declared an emergency, the president said: “Practically speaking, yes.”

Climate activists disputed the accuracy of this assertion. They noted that Biden has not formally issued a climate emergency declaration under the National Emergencies Act, which could allow the president to halt crude oil exports, limit oil and gas drilling in federal waters, and pursue other actions to curtail fossil fuel development.

“Young people across the country know that ‘practically speaking’ President Biden has not declared a climate emergency,” Varshini Prakash, executive director of the Sunrise Movement, a youth-led climate activist group, said in a statement yesterday. “President Biden might be using the language of a climate emergency, but the Administration is not using their power to enforce the life saving actions an actual emergency declaration would offer."

White House spokesman Angelo Fernández Hernández countered that the spirit of Biden’s comments was accurate.

“The President was crystal clear: he has treated climate change as an emergency — the existential threat of our time — since day one," he said in an email. “That’s why he signed into law the most ambitious climate bill in history, conserved more land than any President in generations, rejoined the Paris Agreement, attracted $240 billion in private sector investment in clean energy, and used his emergency authorities to invoke the Defense Production Act to supercharge domestic clean energy manufacturing.”

International climate

How floods and extreme heat could test China’s one-party system

Record-setting heat, flooding and other extreme weather events are testing China’s one-party political system, whose top-down approach may be leaving local officials unwilling or unable to respond to the climate disasters on their doorsteps, The Post’s Scott Dance and Christian Shepherd report.

Unprecedented rainfall caused severe flooding last week in Beijing and neighboring Hebei province, killing at least 33 people and causing damage that could take years to repair. But before Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered action on flood control and relief on Aug. 1, local officials were afraid to act on their own, said Wang Weiluo, an engineer and expert on China’s water systems.

Local officials have also faced pressure from Beijing to prevent floodwaters from inundating the capital city, even if it means allowing floodwaters to surge in smaller towns. The Communist Party leader of Hebei, Ni Yuefeng, said last week that he was trying to “build a moat for the capital” by opening floodgates and spillways, sparking an outcry from the flooded-out residents of the city of Zhuzhou.

With each successive weather disaster, frustration with Beijing’s approach may grow, said Alex Wang, co-director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at UCLA.

“These are things people will eventually start to blame the party and the state for not addressing,” Wang said.

Extreme events

At least 36 people have died in Hawaiian wildfires; authorities urge tourists to stay away

Several large wildfires raging on two of Hawaii’s islands yesterday killed at least 36 people, forced mass evacuations and triggered widespread power outages, The Post’s Jennifer Hassan, Andrea Salcedo, Anumita Kaur, Scott Dance, Marisa Iati, Ben Brasch, Kelsey Ables and Lyric Li report.

Officials yesterday discouraged tourists from traveling to Maui, the hardest-hit island, where shelters are at maximum capacity and more than 14,000 people have lost power. Acting governor Sylvia Luke (D) yesterday declared an emergency relief period through at least Tuesday and activated the Hawaii National Guard to help with evacuation efforts and disaster response.

The fires were ignited by dry conditions and strong winds brought by Hurricane Dora, which was passing hundreds of miles south of Hawaii. In recent months, a climate-change-fueled drought has also dried out grasses and shrubs on the islands, making them more flammable.

In the atmosphere

‘Ridiculous’ heat keeps tormenting Texas, with no end in sight— Matthew Cappucci for The Post
Hot tub-like Persian Gulf fuels 158-degree heat index in Iran— Ian Livingston for The Post
Millions struggle to pay AC bills in heat waves. Federal aid reaches only a fraction.— Jesse Bedayn for the Associated Press
White House, amid record heat, accuses Republicans of 'radical, head-in-the-sand’ climate denying— Joey Garrison for USA Today

Viral

Baby Arapawa goat in a bucket to brighten your day 😊— Philly Zoo (@phillyzoo)
pic.twitter.com/9ps2ExPzJ9 August 9, 2023

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