Joe Biden’s Clean Energy Platform

Presidential candidate Joseph Biden has come out of the box with a platform plank that combines a reasonable approach to climate correction with elements of a clean energy program.

Together, his plan looks and sounds very much like Bernie Sander’s Green New Deal, which might also be called Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal with equal validity…but without the heavy-handed rhetoric that characterized the Sanders/Ocasio-Cortez plan.

One of the major differences is  the time frame. The Green New Deal version of the climate and energy package was rendered unmarketable by the insistence that everything had to be done right now, all at once. Biden’s plan has a thirty-year timeline and a $1.7 trillion starting price.

Thirty years is way too many years and $1.7 is much less than we will eventually have to spend on climate correction and clean energy systems….but it is s start in the right direction.

Biden is drawing a very clear line between a president who does not believe that climate change is real and a presidential candidate who knows that it is.

Neither Joe Biden nor Donald Trump will live long enough to find out who was right, or whether Biden’s plan will actually work. The difference is that Donald Trump’s inaction is accelerating the timetable for global environmental and economic collapse so that he might very well see the results of cataclysmic climate collapse in his own lifetime if he is re-elected and allowed to serve a second term.

Here are the key elements itemized in Biden’s plan. CLICK HERE to see the entire plan….and watch the video. Both are well-designed and well-executed. 

1. Ensure the U.S. achieves a 100% clean energy economy and reaches net-zero emissions no later than 2050. On day one, Biden will sign a series of new executive orders with unprecedented reach that go well beyond the Obama-Biden Administration platform and put us on the right track. And, he will demand that Congress enacts legislation in the first year of his presidency that: 1) establishes an enforcement mechanism that includes milestone targets no later than the end of his first term in 2025, 2) makes a historic investment in clean energy and climate research and innovation, 3) incentivizes the rapid deployment of clean energy innovations across the economy, especially in communities most impacted by climate change.
2. Build a stronger, more resilient nation. On day one, Biden will make smart infrastructure investments to rebuild the nation and to ensure that our buildings, water, transportation, and energy infrastructure can withstand the impacts of climate change.  Every dollar spent toward rebuilding our roads, bridges, buildings, the electric grid, and our water infrastructure will be used to prevent, reduce, and withstand a changing climate. As President, Biden will use the convening power of government to boost climate resilience efforts by developing regional climate resilience plans, in partnership with local universities and national labs, for local access to the most relevant science, data, information, tools, and training. 
3. Rally the rest of the world to meet the threat of climate change. Climate change is a global challenge that requires decisive action from every country around the world. Joe Biden knows how to stand with America’s allies, stand up to adversaries, and level with any world leader about what must be done. He will not only recommit the United States to the Paris Agreement on climate change – he will go much further than that. He will lead an effort to get every major country to ramp up the ambition of their domestic climate targets. He will make sure those commitments are transparent and enforceable, and stop countries from cheating by using America’s economic leverage and power of example. He will fully integrate climate change into our foreign policy and national security strategies, as well as our approach to trade.
4. Stand up to the abuse of power by polluters who disproportionately harm communities of color and low-income communities. Vulnerable communities are disproportionately impacted by the climate emergency and pollution. The Biden Administration will take action against fossil fuel companies and other polluters who put profit over people and knowingly harm our environment and poison our communities’ air, land, and water, or conceal information regarding potential environmental and health risks. The Biden plan will ensure that communities across the country from Flint, Michigan to Harlan, Kentucky to the New Hampshire Seacoast have access to clean, safe drinking water. And he’ll make sure the development of solutions is an inclusive, community-driven process.
5. Fulfill our obligation to workers and communities who powered our industrial revolution and subsequent decades of economic growth. This is support they’ve earned for fueling our country’s industrial revolution and decades of economic growth. We’re not going to leave any workers or communities behind.