Additional action needed to meet Biden’s climate goals: analysis

A new analysis has found that the U.S. is currently not on track to meet President Biden’s climate goals unless it takes additional policy actions to mitigate global warming. 

The report, from research firm Rhodium Group, found that by 2030, the U.S. will have cut its emissions by between 24 and 35 percent compared to where they were at in 2005. 

That’s a significantly smaller cut than the 50 to 52 percent that President Biden has called for. 

But, the projection does not include emissions cuts that would come from regulations that have been proposed, but not yet been finalized.

There are still more rules expected to cut climate pollution that the Biden administration is expected to finalize, including a regulation that aims to curtail the release of a planet-warming gas called methane from the oil and gas sector. 

And the administration is expected to propose additional regulations, including one that would curb emissions from power plants. The Supreme Court recently limited how the agency can go about such regulations, but the Biden administration still has tools at its disposal to regulate these sources of planet-warming gases and is expected to do so. 

This year’s Rhodium Group report is more optimistic than last year’s projection, in which the group estimated that the U.S. would cut its emissions by between 17 and 30 percent. However, the group attributed the shift to higher fossil fuel prices and slower economic growth projections, rather than climate policies. 

Over the past year, hopes for significant legislative action to tackle climate change have dwindled, as Democrats have failed to reach a deal on President Biden’s spending agenda.

Experts told The Hill in April that the lack of legislative action jeopardizes Biden’s climate goals.