Senator Joe Biden has released a comprehensive plan to address global warming and our energy challenges, which includes a mandatory cap-and-trade program to cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants that cause global warming. His approach to the climate crisis focuses heavily on its impacts on our national security and foreign policy. As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Biden has held hearings on the potential security challenges posed by global warming, including the instability it will cause in some countries due to reduced access to fresh water, impaired food production, the spread of diseases, increased flooding and the displacement of millions.¹ He has also been a leader on the Biden-Lugar resolution calling for the United States to re-engage in the international negotiations on climate.² Sen. Biden is a cosponsor of the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act, the strongest global warming legislation introduced in the Senate.³

Sen. Biden believes that all new power plants should be required to have carbon capture and sequestration as a condition of licensing.⁴ He does not support liquid coal, but believes because coal is our most abundant fuel and relatively cheap when compared with other fuel sources, it should remain a part of the world’s energy mix.⁵

In his own words

Biden’s first 100 days priorities on energy and global warming:

“My first priority in office will be ending the war in Iraq. It is a boulder in the road that blocks our progress on all of our domestic priorities. Confronting our dependence on fossil fuels is a crucial part of that process. If we don’t leave a stable Iraq and we don’t deal with our dependence on oil, we will have to send our children and grandchildren back to the region. So energy security – which includes reducing demand for oil, substantially increasing efficiency, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions -- will be a top priority of my first 100 days. It is time for a national energy policy that moves the country into an alternative energy future. Key components of that policy will include: raising fuel economy standards, expanding energy efficiency programs and requiring government offices to be become more efficient, and significantly increasing national investment in energy technology. It is not enough to simply contain greenhouse gas emissions here in the US and reduce our own dependence on oil. For our national security we need a global solution to both climate change and oil dependence. To that end, I will return the US to a real leadership position on climate change immediately. The first steps have to be imposing limits on greenhouse gas emissions here in the US through a domestic cap and trade program and investments in new technologies and energy savings. We must attack this problem on every front. At the same time we need to move on the international front, building trust and commitments among major emitters with the goal of a post-2012 framework that includes the United States and the major emerging emitters like China and India. After seven years of doing nothing about climate change, we can’t afford to let the issue sit on the side.”⁶

On other key environmental issues, Sen. Biden:

Supports reinstating the Superfund “polluter pays” program
Supports protecting water resources (including intermittent streams and isolated wetlands)
Supports permanently protecting and preserving the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Supports the reinstatement of 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule
Supports requirements of compliance with existing environmental laws in trade agreements