Disclosure statement: Between 2023-2024, while working at the Rockefeller Institute, Laura Rabinow served as a senior advisor for chemical safety at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, with a focus on issues related to PFAS.

In 2021, we wrote about how the incoming Biden administration would need to rebuild federal environmental protections to achieve commitments made by President Biden on the campaign trail and early in his administration. We considered those efforts in the contexts of both the longer-term declines in funding and staffing at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the more proximate actions of the Trump administration in its first term “to deregulate, reorganize, and remake” the agency and to rollback or revise environmental regulations.

In this two-part blog series, we first reflect on what was accomplished in rebuilding environmental protections during President Biden’s term. In the second part, as President Trump takes office once again, we’ll consider the incoming administration’s commitments and anticipated reprisal of efforts to deconstruct federal environmental regulatory systems.

Biden’s Efforts to Rebuild Environmental Protections

As we highlighted in our last blog, the Biden administration outlined ambitious commitments and environmental policy goals when he took office as part of his broader efforts to “build back better.” These included:

• increasing the EPA’s staffing levels,
• expanding polluter enforcement actions,
• achieving 100 percent clean energy and net-zero emissions by 2050,
• decarbonizing the electricity sector by 2035,
• establishing new methane pollution limits for the oil and gas sector,
• ensuring clean and safe drinking water through infrastructure investments, accelerating research, and implementing enforceable standards,
• conserving 30 percent of US lands and oceans by 2030,
• ensuring new infrastructure reduces climate impacts and pollution, and
• investing $1.7 trillion over 10 years in clean energy and environmental justice.

There are certainly other issues and criteria by which to consider environmental policy efforts under the Biden administration, but here we consider them according to the administration’s own proverbial measuring stick—its goals and commitments to the public. Below, we provide a high-level summary of actions taken with respect to these goals and commitments. While some of the administration’s goals are too future-oriented to be evaluated now, and many will depend on continued actions by other administrations, we consider those more immediate actions and outcomes observed thus far.

EPA Budget and Staffing Trends

As we noted previously, between 2016 and 2020, the EPA lost 1,462 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff members, leaving it at its lowest staffing levels since 1989. Under the Biden administration, the Environmental Protection Agency’s staffing levels have modestly to moderately increased each year. From 2020 to 2024, the EPA gained 958 FTE staff members, replacing approximately 66 percent of those FTE positions lost during Trump’s first term, and bringing the total FTE staff in 2024 to 15,130. Recently, EPA spokesperson Andrea Drinkard has noted that including both current full-time permanent and temporary employees, the agency has 16,056 staff and that it hired 6,232 full-time permanent and temporary employees during the Biden administration.

Budget levels likewise increased in current dollars during the Biden administration. However, when adjusting for the high inflation experienced in the last couple of years, the agency’s budget has typically decreased in real dollars. This was compounded in 2024 by more significant budget cuts.
It is important to note that the EPA’s staffing and budget reflect the priorities of a particular administration and Congress. For Fiscal Year 2024, President Biden’s proposed budget was just over $12 billion for the EPA, a 19 percent increase from the previous year that would have added nearly 2,000 FTE positions, bringing the total staff level to a projected 17,077 FTE. However, the final budget enacted by Congress instead included a decrease of $1 billion from the previous year bringing the EPA’s budget to under $9.2 billion. Although the EPA managed to keep staffing levels relatively stable, this cut impacted Agency programs.

EPA Staffing & Budget 2016-2024

SOURCE: US Environmental Protection Agency & Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI Inflation Calculator

Climate & Energy

At the beginning of his administration, Biden outlined his commitments towards achieving 100 percent clean energy and net-zero emissions by 2050, decarbonizing the electricity sector by 2035, and establishing new methane pollution limits for the oil and gas sector. President Biden also set a new national goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50-52 percent of the 2005 levels by 2030, and a new goal for 50 percent of new passenger vehicles sold to have zero emissions by 2030.

Transportation

In 2024, the EPA finalized strong passenger vehicle standards for vehicle models beginning in 2027 that will cut air pollution emissions from new cars and light trucks in half by model year 2032, compared to vehicles sold in 2026. These standards are expected to increase the number of electric and hybrid vehicles on the road. Biden also signed an executive order that requires federal agencies to purchase 100 percent zero-emission light-duty vehicles by 2027 and the EPA finalized new pollution standards for heavy-duty vehicles, such as trucks and school buses, which is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1 billion tons by 2055 if maintained. In addition, under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, $5 billion was allocated for a Clean School Bus Program to aid in the purchase of zero-emission school buses and related infrastructure for districts.

Renewable Energy

The Biden administration pledged to spend $1.7 trillion for clean energy over ten years and has already committed much of that funding. A POLITICO analysis estimated that $1.1 trillion was obligated or awarded out of the $1.6 trillion allocated across four key laws signed by President Biden—the American Rescue Plan package, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act. As of December 2024, it was reported that $561 billion had yet to be obligated to agencies.

Further, the Inflation Reduction Act included the creation of the $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. In April 2024, the EPA announced awards for the entirety of that funding, $7 billion of which was distributed under the Solar for All program, $14 billion under the National Clean Investment Fund, and $6 billion under the Clean Communities Investment Accelerator. Additionally, in October 2024, the administration announced nearly $150 million for 67 clean energy and energy conservation projects. Through the USDA, the administration also announced 654 new grants to help rural small businesses and farms across the country advance green energy systems.

More recently, in November 2024, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced $2.2 billion in funding for two Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs to help accelerate the commercial-scale development of low-cost hydrogen. Hydrogen energy can be (though is not necessarily) produced with low carbon emissions when drawing on renewable energy resources. And, in January 2025, the Treasury Department finalized guidance allowing for the use of tax credits (established under the Inflation Reduction Act) to companies producing hydrogen.

Oil & Gas Production

The first Trump administration rescinded or rolled back a handful of methane regulations (as outlined in our prior blog), primarily those that affect the oil and gas sector, including methane emissions on public lands as well as from landfills. Before taking office, President Biden committed to establishing new methane pollution limits for the oil and gas sector. This commitment was kept.

In June 2021, President Biden signed into law a joint Congressional Resolution disapproving the EPA rule titled “Oil and Natural Gas Sector: Emission Standards for New, Reconstructed, and Modified Sources Review.” This rule was finalized in September 2020, just months before Biden took office, and reduced restrictions on methane emissions and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). In December 2023, the EPA then issued a final rule establishing New Source Performance Standards to reduce methane and smog-forming volatile organic compounds from new, modified, and reconstructed sources of emissions, as well as providing Emissions Guidelines. And, in November 2024, the EPA finalized another new rule establishing a methane Waste Emissions Charge, as directed under the Inflation Reduction Act.

The new rule charges high-emitting gas and oil producers for methane released into the atmosphere (rather than captured in the production process) and also provides a financial incentive for oil and gas companies to fix pipeline leaks. The rule further requires an increase in the quality of emissions reports. The EPA estimated that “this rule alone will result in cumulative emissions reductions of 1.2 million metric tons of methane (34 million metric tons CO2-equivalent) through 2035—the equivalent of taking nearly 8 million gas-powered cars off the road for a year.”

In addition, in 2024, the Department of the Interior finalized a new rule updating regulations to require oil and gas companies operating on public lands to take actions to reduce emissions and find and fix leaks, as well as to provide funds to compensate American taxpayers and Tribal mineral owners through royalty payments.

Also, in 2024, the administration finalized four rules that reduce pollution from fossil fuel-fired power plants. These rules require that new gas-fired and existing coal-fired power plants capture at least 90 percent of their smokestack carbon dioxide emissions by 2039—unless they shut down. These rules further created more stringent standards for mercury emissions from smokestacks, coal ash waste, and wastewater discharge. They also represent the first time the federal government has restricted carbon emissions from existing coal-powered power plants, the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the power sector.

While these actions represent progress towards the administration’s environmental goals and commitments, other goals and actions by the administration—while not all mutually exclusive—stand in tension with some of these. This includes the administration’s approval of the Willow project to drill in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, and the development of the domestic production of semiconductor chips, as supported through the CHIPS and Science Act signed in 2022. While the Act and other measures have included funding for related clean energy development and decarbonization of the industry, the broader and significant energy needs of developing domestic chip manufacturing may constrain or slow the ability to reach existing renewable energy and climate goals, as well as impacting water needs and quality (as noted below).

Clean Water

Lead

In 2021, the Biden administration initiated the “Get the Lead Out Partnership” in cooperation with localities and states, and the EPA committed to advancing “non-regulatory actions to support the replacement of 100 percent of lead pipes” with the goal of doing so in the next decade. Towards this end, the same year, under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), the federal government allocated $15 billion for lead service line replacement. The EPA also published initial Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR) in 2021 that directed water systems to create lead service line material inventories (to determine which and how many were made of lead). The revisions further directed systems to complete those inventories by October 16, 2024—by which time further regulatory actions were anticipated. In 2022, the Agency also published guidance for systems on how to create the inventories.

Then, in October 2024, the Biden administration finalized a new rule—the Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI)—requiring drinking water systems nationwide to identify and replace any lead service lines within 10 years, starting in 2027. The LCRI also required more rigorous drinking water testing and set certain reporting and resulting actions at lower thresholds, thereby protecting 9 million households from lead exposures.

PFAS

President Biden made early commitments to ensuring clean and safe drinking water through infrastructure investments, polluter enforcement actions, accelerating research, and implementing enforceable standards. In addition to the above actions on lead, those efforts have included the class of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), commonly referred to as “forever chemicals.” PFAS exposure has been linked to many negative health impacts, including certain cancers, liver and heart effects, and immune and developmental effects in infants and children. In 2021, the EPA established a PFAS Council, which then laid out a PFAS Strategic Roadmap that set out a timeline and actions to be taken across the agency.

In April 2024, the Biden administration announced the first-ever national drinking water standards for any PFAS, which included six such compounds. The same month, the EPA designated two PFAS (PFOA and PFOS) as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) otherwise known as the Superfund Law. And, in December 2024, the EPA finalized another new regulation, closing a loophole for PFAS under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), known as Low Volume Exemptions (LVEs), that allowed PFAS to enter the market or be used without a full safety review. Other EPA actions (alongside actions by other federal agencies) have included the continued addition of PFAS to the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) pursuant to the National Defense Authorization Act. The TRI requires facilities to track and report releases of listed chemicals. The most recent addition of 9 further PFAS in early 2025 brings the total number of PFAS on the TRI to 196.

While not all items on the EPA’s Strategic Roadmap have been completed, and there are of course further actions that have been called for by stakeholders and impacted communities, the rules and related actions outlined above reflect significant progress towards fulfilling the administration’s commitments. As noted above, with respect to the administration’s climate and energy goals, however, the Administration’s support of policies to develop domestic semiconductor chip manufacturing has raised concerns in regard to water use and quality, including PFAS. These concerns were echoed in October 2024, when President Biden signed legislation exempting some chips manufacturers from provisions under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) that would require certain environmental reviews, in order to ensure more expedient development in the sector.

WOTUS

In 2020, we wrote about the rule issued by the Trump administration redefining (once again) the term “waters of the United States” (or WOTUS), which outlines those waters protected under the Clean Water Act (CWA). That Trump administration’s rule reverted WOTUS to a narrower definition in place prior to the Obama Administration (who had expanded it in 2015). In particular, the 2020 rule explicitly excluded twelve categories of water features from federal regulation under the Clean Water Act, effectively leaving the decision to regulate those types of waters to states.

The Biden administration initially rolled out a revised rule redefining WOTUS in January 2023. But, following the Sackett v. EPA decision by the Supreme Court in May 2023 which significantly limited the scope of WOTUS, the Biden administration finalized a new rule to conform with that decision later that year.

Conservation

As noted above, the Biden administration had the ambitious goal of conserving 30 percent of US lands and oceans by 2030 (30×30). With the addition of two new monuments in California in early 2025, the administration conserved roughly 674 million acres of federal land and waters, more than any other administration. These conservation efforts included (among others): protecting 28 million acres in Alaska, designating the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni-Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon as a national monument in Arizona, as well as the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley as a national monument in Illinois and Mississippi, and the expansions for Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument and San Gabriel Mountains National Monument in California.

The administration also worked to conserve coastal lands and waters including 1,800 acres of land in a key floodplain, 575 acres of mature forested wetlands, and 1,225 acres of pine woodlands in South Carolina’s Williamsburg and Georgetown Counties which are historically underserved areas. This project helps protect communities from flooding and expand access to public lands. More recently, in January 2025, President Biden announced a “permanent stop” to new offshore oil and gas drilling for 625 million acres of coastal waters. This amounts to an estimated 20 percent of the seabed under US control, though it does not include certain areas of the Gulf Coast, which currently account for nearly all offshore US production. In addition to these efforts, the administration launched the American Climate Corps, creating over 15,000 conservation jobs for young people as of April 2024.

Environmental Justice

The Biden administration outlined early goals and efforts related to environmental justice—the concept that every person should have fair treatment and that we should foster meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income—concerning the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. In 2021, the administration announced the Justice40 Initiative which was set to deliver 40 percent of funds aimed at clean energy, affordable and sustainable housing, clean water, and other investments to communities disadvantaged and marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution. Since the beginning of his term, there has been significant progress towards achieving this goal. In 2022, the administration identified 16 agencies and over 400 programs to be part of the Justice40 Initiative. In 2023, President Biden signed Executive Order 14096 which directed the federal government to strengthen its commitment to environmental justice and to use approaches that are informed by scientific research. Additionally, the administration released an Environmental Justice Scorecard which tracks actions Federal agencies take to advance principles of environmental justice.

In the fall of 2024, the administration also created an Environmental Justice Climate Corp program to help communities disproportionately affected by climate change and to help young people begin careers in environmental justice. The Inflation Reduction Act, championed by the Biden administration, created investments in environmental justice. The EPA’s newly established Community Change Grants were created with $2 billion in Inflation Reduction Act funding to support new community-driven projects that expand clean energy and strengthen climate resiliency in communities across the country. The Biden administration also worked toward incorporating principles of environmental justice in many programs. For example, the administration recognized that not all communities have equal risk of lead exposure, and to acknowledge this disparity, 49 percent of the $2.6 billion must be provided to disadvantaged communities in the form of grants or principal forgiveness.

Conclusion

Overall, the Biden administration appears to have made significant progress toward achieving many of the goals outlined at the beginning of Biden’s term and it did so in the context of needing to rebuild the federal environmental administration and protections. Though there remain issue areas in need of greater attention, further funding to be awarded, and tensions with other policy goals, when it comes to climate, energy, and environmental policy, the Biden administration largely accomplished the ambitious goals it set for itself.

In part two of this series, we will outline some of the changes we expect from the second Trump administration and how Trump’s goals conflict with the Biden administration’s climate policy goals.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Laura Rabinow is deputy director of research at the Rockefeller Institute
Mathilda Scott is policy analyst at the Rockefeller Institute