The Biden climate plan has important reforms, but can't reach the stated targets with market mechanisms and carbon capture high tech. Patrick Bond gives a sweeping look at the climate crisis on theAnalysis.news with Paul Jay.

Transcript

Paul Jay

Hi, I'm Paul Jay. Welcome to theAnalysis.news, and please don't forget there's a donate button at the top of the website.

The Guardian headline said, "Dizzying pace of Biden's climate action sounds death knell for era of denialism." the Sunrise movement statement said they, quote "celebrated major climate victories as President Joe Biden announced monumental climate executive actions to begin a society-wide mobilization to stop climate change, create millions of good jobs, and roll back centuries of systemic racism." The statement continued, "Sunrise was not only instrumental in electing President Biden but ensured he ran on the most progressive climate platform in history, now in a victory for the movement President Biden is beginning to follow through on his promises, symbolizing a turning point in this country's climate, politics and our nation's history."

With a more skeptical take, the Indigenous Environmental Network says, quote, "We stand by our principles that such justice on these stolen lands cannot be achieved through market-based solutions, unproven technologies, and approaches that do not cut emissions at source. Climate justice is going beyond the status quo and truly confronting systemic inequalities and colonialism within our society."

Food and Water Watch says, "Biden's orders fall well short of what's needed and must be paired with serious plans to stop our deadly addiction to fossil fuels. We need a White House that is committed to stopping all drilling and fracking, and shutting down any schemes to export fossil fuels" end quote.

The plan Biden announced is certainly a radical departure from four years of climate denial. But does it go far enough and fast enough to be effective in preventing warming from reaching 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures?

It's encouraging that John Kerry, the new climate czar, said that 1.5 degrees was the goal and not the two degrees that is usually  talked about. But will this plan actually get us there?

Now joining us to assess the Biden plan is Patrick Bond. Patrick is a political economist, a professor at the University of Western Cape School of Government in Cape Town, South Africa. He was born in Northern Ireland and pursued his doctorial studies in geography at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. His best-known work is Elite Transition: From Apartheid to Neoliberalism in South Africa. He also co-authored Politics of Climate Justice based on South Africa's hosting of the 2011 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Summit. Thanks very much for joining me, Patrick.

Patrick Bond

It's great to be back with you Paul.

Paul Jay

So start with the positives. Certainly the biggest positive is at least now there's a conversation that there is such a thing as a climate crisis, and that ain't nothing compared to the last four years. But still, the real question is, is this a plan that's going to get to where we need to be? Is it going to be effective or not? So, first of all, start with what you think is positive, if you think there are some positives in the Biden-Kerry announcements, and then let's get into what might be the weaknesses.

Patrick Bond

Yeah, three very important positives Paul. I don't think anyone would deny that this is massive progress from the Trump era,