Please note!

This fact brief was originally published as an experiment to test the concepts behind fact briefs.

Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of useful information in fact briefs like this one, not all of them reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

FACT BRIEF

Could President Biden use emergency powers to address climate change?

Tuesday, February 2, 2021

By Lisa Freedland

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YES

Policy advocates are urging President Biden to invoke his office’s emergency powers to enact climate policies rapidly, ahead of legislative and regulatory processes. The president holds broad authority to declare a “national emergency,” which permits use of 136 emergency powers under various statutes.

A letter co-signed by 380 organizations outlines how Biden could use those powers to prohibit oil exports for a year, direct loans and agency resources to clean-energy developers and use military funds to build clean-energy infrastructure, among other measures.

In 2019, President Trump diverted funds to border-wall projects after declaring illegal crossings a national emergency, a move that was affirmed by the Supreme Court. Emergency powers can be “misused as convenient fixes to non-emergency problems,” a Brennan Center review notes, and overuse could undermine the balance of powers.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

Brennan Center for Justice: A guide to emergency powers and their use

Center for Biological Diversity: Letter to President-Elect Biden—Climate emergency executive order

Federal Register: Declaring a national emergency concerning the southern border of the United States

AP News: Supreme Court rules Trump can use Pentagon funds for border wall

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR

Gigafact

Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

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About fact briefs published on Gigafact

Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.