Joe Biden releases $5T climate change plan that goes 'well beyond' Obama agenda
Joe Biden released a $5 trillion “clean energy revolution” plan Tuesday to combat climate change, which he said is the greatest challenge facing the U.S. and world. Biden responded aggressively to critics and rival Democratic candidates who predicted he’d be too moderate on climate change, given his pro-union background, with a proposal that he says goes “well beyond” the agenda he undertook in the Obama administration. He vowed to re-enter the Paris Climate Accord that the Obama administration negotiated, and President Trump rejected, on the first day of his presidency, and to commit the U.S. to an even more ambitious greenhouse gas emission reduction goal.
Climate change has emerged as a top issue for Democratic primary voters in the 2020 campaign, with the progressive Green New Deal pushing candidates to try to one-up each other with proposals to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions. Biden nods to the Green New Deal with his plan, calling it a “crucial framework” that demonstrates the “environment and our economy are completely and totally connected.” “We must take drastic action now to address the climate disaster facing the nation and our world,” Biden said. “Science tells us that how we act or fail to act in the next 12 years will determine the very livability of our planet."
Biden would spend $1.7 trillion in federal money over 10 years on clean energy, leveraging additional private sector and state and local investments to total to more than $5 trillion in funding. His underlying goal is to have the U.S. obtain 100% of its energy from clean sources, and achieve net-zero emissions, no later than 2050 — a target timeline consistent with goals targeted by the United Nations as necessary to avoid the worst harms of climate change. Biden wants Congress to pass legislation within his first year to enforce a 100% clean energy mandate. He would not ban fossil fuels or nuclear power, allowing for zero-emission sources such as advanced nuclear reactors and carbon capture on coal and natural gas plants to contribute to his 100% clean energy goal, along with wind and solar. But Biden joined most of his fellow Democratic field in pledging to not accept campaign contributions from oil, gas, and coal corporations or executives (although he left room for fossil fuel workers to donate to him). Biden said he would pay for his plan by “reversing the excesses” of Trump’s tax cuts for corporations, closing loopholes in the tax code, and ending subsidies for fossil fuels.
In a difference from his competitors, Biden specifically targets China, viewing it as a major competitor in the clean energy economy. He proposes imposing carbon adjustment fees or quotas on carbon-intensive goods from countries that are failing to meet their climate and environmental obligations under the Paris deal, aiming to stop China from "subsidizing coal exports and outsourcing carbon pollution." Biden, despite his critics, had a track record in the Obama administration of enacting policies that have helped reduce emissions and lower the cost of clean energy. In one of his first tasks, Biden helped implement Obama’s economic stimulus package, known as the Recovery Act of 2009, dedicating $90 billion to clean energy programs. He later helped lead negotiations of the Paris agreement. He also authored one of the first climate change bills in 1987 that required the government to plan for global warming.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/energy/joe-biden-releases-5t-climate-change-plan-that-goes-well-beyond-obama-agenda