Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Tuesday outlined a $2 trillion plan to eliminate power sector carbon emissions by 2035 and make the U.S. the leader in electric vehicle production, calling the climate change challenge a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to jolt new life into our economy, strengthen our global leadership [and] protect our planet for future generations.”

In a 23-minute speech at the Chase Center in Wilmington, Del., Biden pledged to build on the billions in clean energy investments of the Obama administration, rejoin the Paris Agreement on climate change and reverse the Trump administration’s environmental rollbacks.

Developed with input from former presidential candidates Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Gov. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.), among others, Biden’s plan is markedly more ambitious than the policies he backed during the primaries, when he called for spending $1.7 trillion over 10 years and eliminating CO2 emissions from power plants by 2050.

The shift reflects both his desire to motivate the liberal wing of the Democratic Party and to provide an economic stimulus to aid recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. How successful he is in implementing the agenda will depend not just on his election but also on Democratic gains in Congress, particularly whether they regain control of the Senate.

“We’re not just going to tinker around the edges,” he said. “Science tells us we have nine years [to cut emissions] before the damage is irreversible, so my timetable [for] results is my first four years as president.”

To reach net-zero emissions economy-wide by 2050, Biden proposed:

• Converting the federal vehicle fleet to EVs and adding 500,000 EV charging stations, moves he claimed would create 1 million new jobs in the U.S. auto industry and its supply chains.
• Zero-emission public transit for every city with 100,000 or more residents.
• Improving energy efficiency of 4 million buildings and 2 million homes over his first term through direct cash rebates and low-cost financing.
• Investments to reduce the costs of clean energy technologies, including battery storage, negative emissions technologies, next-generation building materials, renewable hydrogen and advanced nuclear.
• Creating a Civilian Climate Corps to work in “climate-smart” agriculture, resilience and conservation, including 250,000 jobs plugging abandoned oil and natural gas wells and reclaiming abandoned mines, an idea championed by Inslee and modeled after the New Deal Civilian Conservation Corps.

Seeking to head off likely criticism that the plan will harm the economy, Biden framed his proposal as an economic development program, repeatedly referring to creation of “union” jobs. Building on the “Buy American” theme he sounded in his economic plan released July 9, Biden also made clear he will contest President Trump’s economic nationalism.

“When Donald Trump thinks about climate change, the only word he can muster is ‘hoax.’ When I think about climate change, the word I think of is ‘jobs,’ good-paying, union jobs,” Biden said.

The Trump campaign accused Biden of a bait-and-switch, saying “his so-called ‘Build Back Better’ plan and radical proposal to spend $2 trillion in four years on Green New Deal policies make it clear that union jobs related to oil, natural gas, fracking and energy infrastructure will be on the chopping block.”

Biden would use the federal government’s buying power to raise wages — requiring vendors receiving government contracts to pay at least $15/hour — and provide demand for EVs while also offering rebates for car owners to switch from gasoline-powered autos.

“The United States owns and maintains an enormous fleet of vehicles, and we’re going to convert these government fleets to electric vehicles, made and sourced right here in America, with the government providing the demand and the grants to retool factories that are struggling to compete. The U.S. auto industry and its deep bench of suppliers will step up, expanding capacity so that the United States — not China — leads the world in clean vehicle production,” Biden said.

“We know how to do this. [The Obama] administration rescued the auto industry and helped it retool; made solar energy the same cost as traditional energy; weatherized more than 1 million homes. And we’ll do it again, but this time bigger and faster and smarter,” he continued. “These aren’t pie-in-the-sky dreams. These are actionable policies that we can work on right away. We can live up to our responsibilities [and] meet the challenge of a world at risk of a climate catastrophe.”

Environmental Justice

Biden also pledged to address pollution’s impact on poor and minority communities, in part by ordering the attorney general to implement via executive action key parts of Sen. Cory Booker’s (D-N.J.) Environmental Justice Act of 2019, which would strengthen residents’ legal protections against polluters.

Drawing from New York state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, Biden said he would target 40% of the government’s clean energy investments to poor communities, including clean energy and energy efficiency deployment; clean transportation; affordable and sustainable housing; training and workforce development; and the remediation of legacy pollution.

He also would establish an Environmental and Climate Justice Division within the Department of Justice. Biden said the Trump administration’s EPA has referred the fewest number of criminal antipollution cases to DOJ in 30 years.

Separately, the Government Accountability Office reported Tuesday that the Trump administration low-balled its estimate on the social cost of carbon to justify repealing or weakening climate change regulations. The report said the administration’s estimates were seven times lower than previous federal estimates.

Reaction

Biden took no questions after his speech, and his campaign has not detailed how he would fund the spending program. He has called for additional economic stimulus funding, raising the corporate income tax rate to 28% from 21% and increasing income taxes on the wealthy.

While some climate activists complained Biden would not ban fracking, others praised his agenda as the most ambitious climate plan of any U.S. presidential nominee. “We shaved 15 years off Biden’s previous target for 100% clean energy,” tweeted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), co-author of the Green New Deal, who served as chair of Biden’s climate task force.

Republicans said it would bust the budget and be a drag on the economy. “Joe Biden’s radical climate agenda would kill 10 million jobs, enrich our enemies and send your taxes through the roof,” tweeted Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.

The American Petroleum Institute had a muted reaction. “You can’t address the risks of climate change without America’s natural gas and oil industry, which continues to lead the world in emissions reductions while delivering affordable, reliable and cleaner energy to all Americans,” it said in a statement.