WASHINGTON: As a presidential contender, Joe Biden made climate change a centerpiece of his platform, vowing to decarbonize the US economy, ban drilling on public lands, and lead the world in a historic transition away from fossil fuels.

        However, more than a year into his presidency, Biden has been forced to prioritize energy security as a result of rampant inflation and a war in Europe, prompting his administration to release record amounts of crude oil from strategic reserves and urge drillers to pump harder to keep up with demand.

        The abrupt shift in Biden's energy policy priorities reflects the challenges that any US administration would face in attempting a broad, decades-long reform of the country's massive energy economy to combat global warming while also assisting geopolitical allies and keeping consumer prices in check.

        Failure to achieve that balance may have serious electoral ramifications for Biden's Democratic colleagues in November's midterm elections: conservatives will blame the party if gas prices remain high, while progressives will punish it if it abandons its climate pledges. "The fact is that there must be short-term costs for long-term benefits, and I'm not sure this administration is prepared to pay the price," Ed Hirs, an energy economist at the University of Houston, said of the political and financial consequences of combating climate change.

        When asked this week if the president was still convinced that the US could meet its climate goals despite the obstacles, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said no. "We're still pursuing it, and we're going to keep doing all we can to get there," Psaki added.

        Biden had pledged on the campaign trail to put the United States - the world's largest oil consumer - on track to eliminate carbon emissions by 2050 and transform the power grid to be carbon-free by 2035, lofty goals that he hoped to put in motion during his first two years in office, when his party had razor-thin majorities in Congress.

        In 2020, renewable energy accounted for just 12% of the oil, coal, and natural gas-dependent US energy consumption, compared to over 20% in the European Union. Biden's multibillion-dollar climate change legislation, which included many of the ways to achieve those goals, has stuck in Congress due to Republican and conservative Democratic opposition. To approve the bill under reconciliation, Senate Democrats will need the backing of all 50 members of the Senate, as well as Vice President Kamala Harris.

        "Without the reconciliation package, he won't be able to fulfill his climate goals," said Jamal Raad, executive director of Evergreen Action, an advocacy organization that helped draft portions of the legislation. "The following weeks are literally his final chance to get it done, and his legacy is on the line. This is a make-or-break situation."

        The Build Back Better Bill would have put $300 billion into tax credits for low-carbon energy producers and purchasers, extending renewable energy tax cuts and introducing new ones for nuclear power, and hastening the transition to electric cars. Republicans have lambasted it as expensive and damaging to the economy, while Manchin, from coal-producing West Virginia, opposes it as too pricey.

        There are no indications that the White House and Manchin are any closer to a compromise on the huge spending plan behind the scenes. According to three individuals familiar with the talks, the two parties are not working on a set schedule and several crucial elements remain unresolved.

FOSSIL FUELS ARE BECOMING MORE COMMON

        During his campaign, Biden promised to suspend federal drilling auctions to aid in the battle against climate change, but his efforts have been thwarted by a legal challenge brought by Republican-led states. After a court ruling, the government announced late last Friday, just before the holiday weekend, that it was starting public lands leasing, but on significantly fewer acres than originally anticipated.

        Meanwhile, the government has had to contend with a potent mix of growing global consumer energy demand and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has limited global oil supplies, after the worst days of the COVID-19 epidemic.

        The Biden administration placed broad punitive sanctions on Russia, limiting one of the world's leading oil and gas producers' supply to global markets, a factor that pushed gasoline prices to record highs above US$4.30 a gallon last month, helping to push inflation to 40-year highs.

        The White House has appealed to the fossil fuel sector for assistance in lowering gas costs. To keep prices down, the government drew on the country's oil reserves, appealed with local producers to drill more, and lobbied everyone from OPEC leader Saudi Arabia to Brazil to boost output.

        To be sure, the Biden administration has taken a number of executive actions to address the climate crisis, including tightening federal regulations on vehicle emissions, hydrofluorocarbons, and methane leaks, as well as announcing plans to purchase electric vehicles for the federal fleet and make federal buildings more energy efficient. It also re-entered the Paris Climate Agreement, which requires nations to make long-term pledges to reduce emissions.

        However, analysts believe Biden would struggle to reach his climate goals if the bulk of his climate legislation is not passed. If the climate legislation passes, Amy Myers Jaffe, a research professor and managing director of Tufts University's Climate Policy Lab, believes Biden will have to compromise to get it through.

        She stated, "I don't view it as a comprehensive bill." "I believe that more focused legislation would be more effective in addressing urgent energy problems and the need to make a long-term pivot to improve our competitiveness in clean energy, which is, in the end, the future for US energy technology exports."

        Gina McCarthy, the White House climate advisor, is set to leave her role as soon as next month. McCarthy, a valued Biden adviser and regulatory specialist, was intended to head the administration's attempts to put the climate change legislation into effect, but her resignation indicates some pessimism about its chances of passing.