US President, Joe Biden, signed a series of executive orders to launch his administration Wednesday, including a decision to rejoin the Paris climate accord and a mask mandate for all federal buildings.
President Biden signed 17 executive orders, the first of which was to boost the federal response to the coronavirus crisis.
The orders also included keeping the United States in the World Health Organization, ending the ban on entries from mostly Muslim-majority countries and bolstering environmental protections.
Also among the directives was a halt to construction of the wall on the US-Mexico border, and efforts to expand diversity and equality for minority groups in the federal government.
The orders were aimed at reversing decisions by his predecessor Donald Trump and setting a clear policy path for Biden’s new administration, just hours after he was sworn in as president.
Biden set to work at the Oval Office having been sworn in earlier on Wednesday as the 46th president of the United States.
“There is no time to waste when it comes to tackling the crises we face,” he tweeted as he headed to the White House after his inauguration.
“Some of things we are going to be doing are going to be bold,” he later said in the Oval Office.
The new order on COVID-19 mandates the wearing of masks and practise social distancing on all federal government property.
He said his actions on the Covid-19 pandemic, which has claimed 400,000 American lives, would help change the course of the crisis.
“We are going to combat climate change in a way we have not done so far,” Biden said of returning to the Paris agreement, a treaty signed by most nations in 2016 to limit global warming.
His return to the Paris Agreement, which the United States joined Barack Obama was president and Biden vice president, was lauded by other leaders.
“Welcome back,” said French President Emmanuel Macron.
“We are together. We will be stronger to face the challenges of our time. Stronger to build our future. Stronger to protect our planet.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also welcomed the move, saying it was a large step for the leading producers of global carbon pollution.
“But there is a very long way to go,” he said in a statement.
“We look forward to the leadership of United States in accelerating global efforts towards net zero” emissions, he said, calling for “ambitious” new targets for 2030 and expanded climate finance.
Biden’s climate czar, John Kerry, hailed the move as a boon for “America’s credibility and commitment — setting a floor, not a ceiling, for our climate leadership.”
Biden has also revoked the presidential permit granted to the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline, which environmentalists and Native American groups have fought for more than a decade.
The move will be discussed when Mr Biden makes his first phone call to a foreign leader – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau – on Friday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.
Additional reporting from AFP and BBC
