Climate action dominated Biden’s first day. What could Harris have done?

If Kamala Harris is elected president, her first day in the Oval Office will be a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Democrats — a chance to build on the work of her predecessor.

Joe Biden, Donald Trump and Barack Obama spent their first day as president signing executive orders that reversed many of the policies of the last occupant of the White House. But because she is the serving vice president, Harris will have to confront a dynamic the White House has not faced since then-Vice President George H. W. Bush took the top job in 1989: defending and extending the legacy of the previous administration.

The Biden administration has no shortage of unfinished business, lawmakers and experts say — especially on energy and climate.

How exactly Harris will approach these issues remains an open question. She was largely cagey on policy details during the campaign, beyond reaffirming her support for further climate action while making clear that she no longer supports a ban on fracking.

Most Democratic lawmakers want Harris to focus on implementing the sweeping climate programs launched by Biden, an approach that could dovetail with her campaign’s emphasis on housing and other cost-of-living issues.

Other Day 1 options include declaring a climate emergency — a move the Biden administration reportedly considered in 2022, when its energy agenda appeared dead in Congress, and using Biden’s freeze on liquefied natural gas export permits. (A court this summer lifted that freeze pending the outcome of a lawsuit.)

While not directly related to climate, Harris’ campaign promised she would use her first day in office to “drive down prices” and “take on big corporations that engage in illegal price gouging and corporate landlords that unfairly raise rents on working families.”

Progressive lawmakers and advocates see plenty of room for climate action in these first-day promises, even if the details are uncertain. She could, for example, include Big Oil among the industries she identifies as needing to be reined in amid accusations of price fixing—a nod to her days as California attorney general.

But even though polls show a tight race against Trump, climate hawks have generally refrained from pressuring her, especially on the kind of policy actions that characterize most presidents’ first days in office.

The most important thing Harris needs to do on climate, said California Democratic congressman Jared Huffman, is “win the damn election.”

That’s a dramatic shift from four years ago, when progressives pressured Biden’s campaign to commit to a range of climate actions.

As a result, on inauguration day, Biden signed 17 executive orders and proclamations — a stack of folders stretching from his desk to his shoulder — that included rejoining the Paris climate accord, canceling construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, directing agencies to integrate environmental justice into their programs and outlining a range of regulatory actions for his term, from automotive standards to oil and gas regulations.

Harris would have fewer low-hanging fruit to pick by inheriting the Oval Office from her party’s president. That hasn’t stopped progressives from dreaming up all the ways she could go further than Biden, even if they’re not yet pressuring her to promise to do so.

“A climate emergency declaration would be a bold move,” said Rep. Ro Khanna, R-Calif., who chaired the House Oversight Committee’s environmental panel when Democrats were in the majority. He added that it could pave the way for her to exploit Biden’s LNG pause. “That would open up the authority to restrict oil and gas exports.”

But Harris has not emphasized climate on the campaign trail. Instead, she has swung in the opposite direction, emphasizing the expansion of domestic oil and gas production under the Biden administration and declaring that continued fracking would not jeopardize emissions reduction goals.

This has forced climate hawks to consider other ways to incorporate climate into campaign issues, such as housing.

“I’ve been constantly preaching the need for a climate emergency; I tried to get Biden to do it on day one, I’d like Kamala to do it on day one,” said Oregon Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley. “But I don’t think that’s what she’s focused on right now.”

“She’s focused, right, on the kitchen table, on the things that people in America are really struggling with right now,” Merkley continued. “And she laid out in the debate what she’s going to do about homeownership, about rent, about rent (costs) going through the roof… those are the main things that people are concerned about.”

Some experts say the dynamic Harris is facing — with climate being a component of many policies rather than a standalone issue — is a sign of how much progress has already been made under Biden.

“She has a much better landscape than Biden did on his first day,” said Craig Segall, senior vice president of the climate policy and advocacy group Evergreen Action.

He explained that this is because clean energy is cheaper and the power grid is on the path to decarbonization, “which basically means we are now in a place where we can focus on the more challenging sectors.”

That’s why climate advocates need to be nimble in crafting policy ideas that align with her priorities, Segall added: “She has an incredible opportunity right now because the other big emitters — industry, housing, transportation — all fit very well into their broader ‘opportunity economy’ framework.”

For example, Harris has talked about making housing more affordable, fighting big landlords — and making sure indoor air is safe for children. In that pledge, climate advocates hear a commitment to switching away from gas appliances, but one that’s couched in terms that undecided voters can digest.

“It’s all about the vibe,” Segall said.

Implementing the Inflation Reduction Act’s climate programs will be a big part of Harris’ first term. And just as Biden outlined a regulatory agenda on Day 1, some believe Harris’ most important task is organizing her administration to quickly craft legislation and get climate funds out the door quickly.

Another dormant climate issue, some lawmakers say, is rebuilding federal agencies after years of underinvestment that worsened under Trump. Democrats have made that a priority under Biden, but they say implementing the IRA depends on Harris continuing that work.

“We need to rebuild these agencies so we have the experts who can expedite the disbursement of money,” said New York Rep. Paul Tonko, senior Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and co-chair of the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition.

Ultimately, no matter what Harris’ climate agenda includes, significant new policies will require more action from Congress. Members of Congress are already talking about what that might look like and how it might fit into Harris’ early priorities.

Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz, a top Senate Democrat on climate issues, said he would prefer Harris give lawmakers space to advance an environmental legislative agenda that aligns with her vision.

“I will use all of my influence to make sure they have a plan that is sufficient and meets the challenge and the opportunity. That may mean they don’t have to rush to issue a bunch of executive orders in the last week of January,” Harris said of a potential future administration. “The wisdom of the Biden-Harris administration has been to let Congress do what it wants.”

Schatz also said he has begun conversations with “members, stakeholders and modeling shops” about what Democrats could do as part of the next budget reconciliation package to build on the IRA’s achievements on climate — if they win the presidential election in November.

Reconciliation bills allow the majority party to pass party-line legislation without having to overcome a filibuster in the Senate.

Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) says she already has a plan she hopes will be adopted by the incoming Harris administration, either as standalone legislation or as a component of a reconciliation measure: “The Homes Act,” legislation she introduced Wednesday with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) that would create a “public option” for housing.

“My colleagues tell me that housing is at the forefront of voters’ minds,” Smith said in an interview, explaining that her new bill “specifically says we should build green — we should build with energy efficiency in mind — because that will be good for reducing pollution and it will lower utility costs in those buildings.”

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) introduced a bill this month that would establish a “Polluters Pay Climate Fund” to which major fossil fuel companies would be required to contribute as penance for exacerbating climate change. Van Hollen told POLITICO’s E&E News that his legislation is designed to be included in a future reconciliation bill.

New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich, who is next in line to become the ranking Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has urged Harris to support policies that further decarbonize the industrial sector — though he stressed that any climate action Harris takes should start with implementing an IRA.

“This is not a departure from where we are now. But that’s the point,” he said. “We have the best climate change tool we’ve ever had. First we have to protect it, and then we can build on it.”