Politics
Biden’s OPEC Plea Pits Fuel Price Fears Against Climate Push
- Appeal is jarring contradiction to lofty climate talk Monday
- Hard reality of inflation poses hurdle to eliminating carbon
This article is for subscribers only.
President Joe Biden has pledged to wean the U.S. off of fossil fuels, and never has that call been more urgent than now, with United Nations-backed scientists warning of a point of no return.
And yet, the Biden administration Wednesday called on Saudi Arabia and its allies to unleash more crude onto global markets, stressing the importance of “affordable energy.” That doesn’t mean the U.S. president has suddenly turned his back on clean energy, but he’s facing the political reality that scores of voters won’t put up with a steady rise in the cost of fuels.