April 2, 2021 last updated 16:22 ET U.S. President George H. W. Bush, front row center, is seen posing with other heads of state at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, June 13, 1992 (AP photo).
It’s Long Past Time for the U.S. to Ratify the ‘Treaty of Life’
Nearly three decades after it emerged from the landmark “Earth Summit” in Rio de Janeiro, the Convention on Biological Diversity has been ratified by 196 countries; the United States is the sole remaining holdout. This failure of global leadership is unconscionable and self-defeating, given continued, catastrophic declines in biodiversity that could see roughly 1 million species disappear in the coming decades. America must finally become party to this “Treaty of Life.”
April 19, 2021 last updated 15:50 ET President Joe Biden signs an executive order on climate change in the State Dining Room of the White House, in Washington, Jan. 27, 2021 (AP photo by Evan Vucci).
How Biden Can Embrace Environmental Stewardship
This is shaping up to be a make-or-break year for international cooperation on biodiversity, though you might not know it. American news outlets have focused most if not all of their recent environmental reporting on climate change. On one level, of course, this makes sense. Climate change is the most daunting collective challenge that humanity has ever faced, and nations have fallen far behind the emissions reduction targets they set in Paris in 2015.
Thursday, January 14, 2021
Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s inauguration on January 20, 2021 as the forty-sixth President of the United States could usher in a sweeping period of environmental regulatory changes vastly eclipsing those of his immediate predecessor – and perhaps even those of President Barack Obama. Further, with key Senate victories in January by Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in Georgia, a Democrat-controlled Congress is better situated to help the President-elect achieve the environmental goals he’s promised would be a focus of his administration.
Regulated industries can expect the new administration to consider action on climate change, environmental justice, chemicals regulation, wetlands/waters of the United States, and endangered & threatened species. Although some of these actions may be complex, look for key Trump administration rules to be rolled back and replaced and new rules and legislation to be proposed. Below we provide a brief overview of key e