The Energy 202: Biden stokes hope among climate scientists
Dino Grandoni
with Alexandra Ellerbeck
Climate scientists are dealing with a strange new feeling now that Joe Biden is president: optimism.
Gone are the days of outright hostility from the White House to climate science, as was the case during Donald Trump's presidency.
President Biden's early executive orders on climate change, say an array of chemists, biologists and social scientists, signal that this White House acknowledges their work toward understanding the causes and consequences of rising temperatures.
But they know it remains extraordinarily difficult to actually cut greenhouse gas emissions enough to stop dangerous warming, even with Biden as president.