At the start of last year’s Democratic trifecta in Washington, optimism for transformational climate action was high. However, coming off two years of little to show on the environmental front, we are entering a primary season that sets the field for 435 House seats. 35 Senate seats, and 36 governorships in November, with all signs pointing to an upcoming divided government.
With the most recent IPCC report stating directly and unsettlingly that climate change is nearing the point of irreversible damage and we have far from strayed from the trajectory to meet the Paris Accord’s goals, we must now get both sides working together if we truly hope to avoid the most devastating consequences.
This will assuredly not be easy. Democrats and Republicans are more divided ideologically now than at any point in my own or my parents’ lifetimes, and the war in Ukraine has further muddied the public’s debate over domestic fossil fuel production vs. renewable energy development. Republicans are calling for the moratorium on new oil and gas leases on federal land to be lifted, wanting to undermine Russia’s power in the oil market by increasing domestic energy production. On the other side, Democrats think that the answer lies in the renewable energy industry. Barring the adoption of a bipartisan solution, basic supply and demand dictates that oil production will continue to increase.
Fortunately, the environment is one of the few issues where a bipartisan approach is even remotely possible. Multiple recent environmental bills have co-sponsorship from both sides of the political spectrum.
One such example is a huge success in the realm of conservation. The Great American Outdoors Act was proposed by Republican Sens. Gardner and Daines, from Colorado and Montana, respectively. It passed under President Trump in July of 2020, with a 73-25 vote in Senate and 310-125 vote in the House of Representatives. It secures funding for both the Restore Our Parks Act and the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWFC); the latter of which will receive $900 million annually from offshore oil and gas revenues to develop parks, trails, sports fields, and other recreation areas.
The National Climate Adaptation and Resilience Strategy Act (NCARS) is both bipartisan and bicameral, introduced by by Republicans and Democrats in both the House and Senate. Additional co-sponsors later signed on to the act, including Maine’s Susan Collins. The support across both political and state lines is crucial to establishing a more unified federal response to climate hazards and disasters, given their far-reaching effects of on human health and safety, particularly in more vulnerable communities.
Bipartisan agreement was further demonstrated by the Energy Act of 2020: one of the most progressive climate bills to pass in over a decade. It was initiated across party lines by the leadership of the Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee, the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee. By modernizing the energy grid, the Energy Act will greatly improve energy efficiency in the U.S, thereby benefitting the environment and economy alike.
For far too many important issues in our country, there is a limited amount of progress that can be made in a deadlocked Washington, D.C. However, this is clearly not the case with climate change. Congress should recognize its real pattern of cooperation on environmental legislation and start putting more common sense, bipartisan bills at the front of its agenda.
There is an existing strategy that has already secured bipartisan support and should be the next step forward. Given its undeniable benefits for both the environment and capacity for economic growth, all lawmakers should be receptive.
This is the Baker-Shultz Carbon Dividends Plan, which outpaces both Paris commitments and President Biden’s targets for domestic emissions reductions. The plan will certainly be a force multiplier for future environmental action because amidst the carbon dividends framework, the relative attractiveness of nuclear energy and renewables to all fossil fuel sources will increase. Over time, companies will be incentivized to replace facilities using higher carbon fossil fuels with those using lower or zero carbon fuels.
Crucially, it would also empower the rest of the world to raise their own ambitions via a border carbon adjustment that eliminates the possibility of carbon leakage. The plan not only represents a pivotal change but also provides numerous avenues for future climate action.
But most importantly, in a country plagued by ideological conflict that infiltrates the government, schools, work places, and even come out in interactions on the street, the bipartisan support is paramount. We need not be fighting each other. We are racing time in a battle against the greatest and most consuming challenge humanity has ever faced. Bipartisanship allows us to hit a major milestone in this fight against climate change. But we must capitalize on it now.
If we do, perhaps next year’s IPCC report may not be so grim.
Caitlin Bracken is the co-chair of Colby College’s Environmental Coalition.
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