Joe Biden to release $2 trillion climate plan, focuses on clean energy

Joe Biden will announce on Tuesday a new plan to spend $2 trillion over four years to significantly escalate the use of clean energy in the transportation, electricity and building sectors, part of a suite of sweeping proposals designed to create economic opportunities and build infrastructure while also tackling climate change.

In a speech in Wilmington, Delaware, Biden intends to build on his plans, released last week, for reviving the economy in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, with a new focus on enhancing the nation’s infrastructure and emphasizing the importance of putting the United States on a path to significantly cut fossil fuel emissions.

The proposal is the second plank in Biden’s economic recovery plan. His team sees an opportunity to take direct aim at President Donald Trump, who has struggled to deliver on his pledges to finance major improvements to American infrastructure. Republicans are sure to criticize the proposal as an attack on jobs in the energy sector — but the plan will also test whether Biden has found a way to win over environmental activists and other progressives who have long been skeptical about the scope of his ambitions on climate.

His plan outlines specific and aggressive targets, including achieving an emissions-free power sector by 2035 and upgrading 4 million buildings over four years to meet the highest standards for energy efficiency. The plan also calls for establishing an office of environmental and climate justice at the Department of Justice and developing a broad set of tools to address how “environmental policy decisions of the past have failed communities of colour.”

In an interview, Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington, a prominent environmentalist who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination on a platform of combating climate change and later endorsed Biden, called the proposal a “triple-A-rated clean energy plan,” saying that Biden has “vigorously seized this moment.”

“This is not a status quo plan,” said Inslee, who has spoken with Biden about climate. He added, “It is comprehensive. This is not some sort of, ‘Let me just throw a bone to those who care about climate change.’” He called the proposal “visionary.”

One major element of the announcement will include charting a path to zero carbon pollution from the US electricity sector by 2035. According to the Energy Information Association, coal and natural gas still account for more than 60 percent of the sector.