Friends of the Earth congratulates President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris

WASHINGTON – Ahead of the swearing in today of Joe Biden as President and Kamala Harris as Vice President of the United States, Erich Pica, President of Friends of the Earth, issued the following statement: 

Today Friends of the Earth celebrates the swearing in of President Biden and Vice President Harris, and the return of decency, common sense and empathy to the White House.  

Elections matter, and the new administration’s commitment to addressing climate change as one of the four major crises this country faces will have tremendous impact. President Biden and Vice President Harris now have an unprecedented opportunity to push aggressively on climate at the scale that the crisis demands. 

President Biden’s day-one commitments to rejoin the Paris Agreement, block the Keystone XL pipeline and halt or repeal more than one hundred environmental rollbacks are incredible first steps. They indicate a complete shift on climate and demonstrate the power of grassroots, progressive activism to push leaders to fight for a stronger and healthier environment.   

The Biden-Harris campaign listened to activists and transformed their climate plan into the most progressive, justice-oriented platform ever seen from a Democratic presidential nominee. Now the Biden Administration must not only follow through on those commitments but go further to stop the worst of the crisis. We look forward to working with the Biden Administration, and we will hold them to account to ensure that people and the planet are protected. 

Communications contact: Erin Jensen, (202) 222-0722, [email protected]