Biden’s Clean Energy and Climate Agenda: First 100 Days and Beyond

Biden’s Clean Energy and Climate Agenda: First 100 Days and BeyondThe election of Joe Biden will create a sea change, including his intent to launch the boldest presidential climate and clean energy plan in history.The “Biden Plan For a Clean Energy Revolution and Environmental Justice” will aim for the U.S. to achieve a 100% clean energy economy and reach net-zero emissions by 2050.Early progress toward this overarching goal is highly uncertain in no small measure because Biden will benefit from only a slim Democratic majority in Congress that may pump the brakes on the most ambitious legislative plans to rein in emissions and invest in advanced clean energy technologies.Biden’s plan includes pushing for a federal investment of $1.7 trillion over the next 10 years, paid for by ending fossil fuel subsidies long on the books and reversing some of the corporate and other tax cuts the Trump administration and congressional Republicans pushed into law.Calling climate change one of the four crises facing the country, Biden will try to ride a wave of momentum accented by growing concerns about more-intense temperatures, wildfires, hurricanes and droughts, coupled with dropping prices of solar and wind power and an already-shrinking coal industry.He has vowed to ensure climate change is a core national security priority and regain U.S. leadership on the issue around the world.He will argue that investing in a cleaner economy will produce high-paying jobs while protecting the planet.Biden’s administration will have a lot of ground to make up on that front. As of November, seven out of 10 clean energy workers who lost their jobs since the beginning of the COVID-19 economic recession remained out of work. More than 446,000 (13 percent of the clean energy sector’s workforce) were unemployed heading into December in a sector that once had the nation’s fastest-growing job rate. But if the rate of job recovery seen since June doesn’t accelerate, it could take about three years for the clean energy sector to reach pre-COVID employment levels and another 14 months to reach the levels of clean energy employment projected for 2020 before the pandemic struck. Biden’s administration will also heighten focus on how environmental policies can help improve clean air and water for poor and minority communities that have historically taken the brunt of industrial pollution.Our team and network of clean energy experts is on the ground monitoring changes to this landscape on a daily basis. We know the media, influencers and subject matter experts transforming public and private sectors. Interested in more about how we can help your team develop an approach to the clean energy transition? Drop us a line at laura <at> teamsilverline <dotcom> for more information.