Washington, D.C. — The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) today released 100 Days in Office: A Foundation for Transformational Change — a new report assessing the Biden-Harris administration’s progress on climate and environmental justice, and the work begun to strengthen our democracy, in their first 100 days.

READ: 100 Days in Office: A Foundation for Transformational Change

“This has been the strongest first 100 days for climate and environmental justice we’ve ever seen from a president,” said LCV President Gene Karpinski. “President Biden and Vice President Harris have set the stage for the transformational change we need to establish the U.S. as a world leader fighting climate change, confront racial injustice, and strengthen our democracy. And they’ve done it all in the middle of a global pandemic while getting hundreds of millions of shots in arms.”

Highlights of the first 100 days:

Personnel

From Dr. Cecilia Martinez, longtime environmental justice leader who now oversees government-wide environmental justice initiatives and the implementation at CEQ, to former EPA Administrator and now White House National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy, to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American to serve in a presidential cabinet, whose job it is to oversee many of the public lands that the U.S. government took from native nations hundreds of years ago, the Biden-Harris leadership team is uniquely qualified to act on climate and environmental justice. See pages 6-11 of the report for more on the historic and diverse team driving a whole-of-government approach to confronting the climate crisis.

Day one executive actions

On day one, the president rejoined the Paris Climate Agreement, stopped the Keystone XL pipeline, halted the process that would have allowed drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, started the process to undo more than 100 Trump-era rollbacks of health and environmental protections, and more.  See pages 12-16 of the report for more on the administration’s day one executive actions.

Climate day to a new NDC

A week after Inauguration Day, the Biden-Harris administration devoted an entire day to executive actions that will help tackle climate change, create jobs, and confront environmental racism. It was the single biggest day for climate action in more than a decade. Executive actions on climate and democracy on January 27 and in the weeks that followed included committing the U.S. to conserving 30% of our lands and waters by 2030, restoring scientific integrity, accounting for climate change impacts by reinstating the social cost of carbon, and promoting access to voting. On the 51st Earth Day, the administration announced an ambitious and achievable goal to cut our emissions by at least 50% from 2005 levels by 2030. See pages 17-21 of the report for more on the administration’s additional executive actions.

American Jobs Plan

A month ago, President Biden debuted his American Jobs Plan, calling for historic investments in our country’s infrastructure. To meet the converging crises we face, it is critical that this recovery plan prioritize addressing long-standing racial and environmental injustice, tackling the climate crisis, and creating good-paying, union jobs. Now it’s up to Congress to get the job done and LCV is working to ensure any bill meets the scale of the crises we face with the big investments needed to build back better with justice and equity. See page 23 of the report for more on our priorities for the American Jobs Plan.

Democracy reform

Unrigging our political system would help restore trust in our elections and return power to the overwhelming majority of people in this country who want to see meaningful action on climate change, and providing clean air, water, lands, and energy for all. In the first 100 days, the House passed the For the People Act (S. 1 and H.R. 1) and DC Statehood (H.R. 51) which would significantly strengthen our democracy and provide more equitable representation. See page 24 of the report for more on the first 100 days for democracy reform.

The Biden-Harris administration has begun to deliver on almost every single one of the initial policy priorities LCV laid out ahead of Inauguration Day. The administration and Congress can build on this early progress and strong foundation by enacting the American Jobs Plan into law and pursuing democracy reforms that make our country more inclusive and responsive to the people.

# # #