President Biden hosted a virtual climate change summit of world leaders on April 22, 2021, during which he pledged to decrease U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 50-52 percent from 2005 levels no later than 2030 – supposedly putting the U.S. on track to achieve a net-zero carbon economy by 2050. In furtherance of this commitment, the Biden administration unveiled an international climate finance plan which includes the U.S. ending almost all public investment in international fossil fuel projects and instead focusing on increasing the U.S.’s investment in decarbonization and climate change adaptation. Any future U.S.  funding of overseas fossil fuel projects will now be allowed only in the “limited circumstances” where there exists a “compelling” development or national security reason for continuing such financing.

Puzzlingly, President Biden branded his 2030 emissions reduction goal as an “opportunity for job development” as well as the development of more sustainable energy, industrial, and agricultural practices. In support of this characterization, President Biden referenced his proposed $2 trillion infrastructure proposal, stating that he sees U.S.  workers “laying thousands of miles of transmission lines for a clean, modern, resilient grid, . . . capping hundreds of abandoned oil and gas wells that need to be cleaned up, . . . building the next generation of electric vehicles, . . . [and] installing, nationwide, 500,000 charging stations along our highways.”

In contrast, Senator Toomey made a statement during the Senate Banking hearing on April 22, 2021, that the “Biden administration’s Green New Dal policies are killing American jobs, slowing economic growth, increasing energy costs, and wasting billions of taxpayer dollars.” The Republican  members of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, including Senator Toomey, also spoke out against the Biden administration’s climate-related agenda in an April 21, 2021, letter sent to the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry, which asserted that the administration’s agenda abuses government power through its combination of climate-related executive orders, regulatory overreach, and pressure to divert lending resources. The letter further declared that the Biden administration’s climate-related agenda undermines the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s current regulations by coercing banks to make energy-related lending commitments.