It is ironic how realities that come from different arenas may, on their face, seem to have nothing to do with each other but can interact and may even appear to be one entity.
Musk ox graze in an area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska known as Area 1002 in this undated file photo. The failure of the Trump administration’s recent oil and gas drilling lease sale in the refuge to attract many buyers indicates a drop in demand for the commodities, because of efforts by many governments to meet Paris accord requirements. Arctic National Wildlife Refuge via Associated Press, File
In an executive order issued Jan. 27, President Biden ordered a pause on new oil and gas leases on public lands, in order to address the climate crisis. He also committed his administration to an ambitious goal – to protect 30 percent of U.S. land and coastal seas by 2030 – which brought cheers from people of faith and others committed to caring for creation.
Biden’s commitment to conserve 30 percent of U.S. land by 2030 will require a huge increase in protected areas. The U.S. is currently conserving about 12 percent of its land in a largely natural state. To reach the “30 by 30” target will require conserving an additional area twice the size of Texas, more than 440 million acres, within the next 10 years.
That “30 by 30” target is backed by scientists, who argue that reaching it is critical both to fighting the climate crisis and to protecting the estimated 1 million species at risk of going extinct. For many people of faith, this is just good stewardship of the land.
One of those climate solutions is for the administration to keep the oil and gas on those public lands in the ground. Though currently the federal government owns about 640 million acres of land, most of it isn’t managed in a way that meets the 30 by 30 standard, in part because resources, including oil and gas, are regularly extracted from much of it.
Fossil fuels extracted from federal lands and U.S. waters contribute nearly a quarter of the country’s carbon dioxide emissions. That is a lot of greenhouse-gas emissions. President Biden’s executive order places a pause on all new federal oil and gas leases, which helps keep fossil fuels in the ground.
In past years, companies rushed to acquire oil and gas fields and bring the crude oil or natural gas to market. Now, analysts say, investors are skeptical because it is not clear there will be demand for them – because many governments are striving to meet the requirements of the 2015 Paris accord. For instance, the Trump administration recently held a lease sale for oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that did not entice many buyers; those who did bid did so modestly.
Here comes the second, seemingly unrelated reality. Because of the climate crisis – which, as I write this piece, has helped cause an unprecedented cold spell in Texas – the nations of the world, through the Paris climate accord, have made a commitment to produce net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050.
President Biden took office this month determined to fight climate change. General Motors CEO Mary Barra announced – just a day after President Biden signed a series of executive orders on climate change – that the company will aim to sell only zero-emission cars and trucks by 2035. GM has already committed to spending $27 billion to introduce 30 electric vehicle models by 2025.
On his first day in office, Biden signed an executive order directing the Environmental Protection Agency to immediately begin developing tough new tailpipe pollution regulations, designed to rein in greenhouse-gas emissions. GM’s announcement provides momentum to that plan, signaling that the nation’s biggest automaker’s plans are congruent with the administration’s largest policy to fight the climate crisis.
But while GM’s announcement occurred in the weeks after the election, five of its competitors, BMW, Ford, Honda, Volkswagen and Volvo, had already committed themselves to tougher fuel economy standards in a deal with California.
The good news for the planet is that, at the same time that President Biden is protecting public lands and discouraging the extraction of oil and gas, General Motors and other automobile manufacturers are developing vehicles that are powered by electricity. Maybe we do have a chance of reaching net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050 – the goal of the Paris accord – and truly become good stewards of the Earth.
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