╌>

Biden Climate Plan Is Closest We've Got to Workable Solution

  

Category:  News & Politics

Via:  john-russell  •  5 years ago  •  6 comments

Biden Climate Plan Is Closest We've Got to Workable Solution
Joe Biden crushed concerns from those to his left that he was too passive about the environment with the unveiling of a comprehensive climate change plan that is targeted, specific, and most importantly, not absurd.

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T





By Morgan PhillipsJun 4th, 2019, 2:56 pm



Morgan Phillips


Biden Climate Plan Is Closest We've Got to Workable Solution








Joe Biden  crushed concerns from those to his left that he was too passive about the environment with the unveiling of a comprehensive  climate change plan  that is targeted, specific, and most importantly, not absurd.

Despite  concerns of its originality , Biden’s 22-page plan promises to go “well beyond” actions of the Obama-Biden administration, promising 100% clean energy and net-zero emissions by 2050.

His proposal includes $1.7 trillion investment in federal money over the next ten years, with additional funds from the private sector and state and local governments bringing the total cost up to $5 trillion. He says he will pay for the plan by reversing the Trump tax cuts as well as closing loopholes and eliminating subsidies for fossil fuels.

Biden isn’t concerned with banning air travel or rebuilding every structure in America from the ground up as are his competitors who have blindly embraced the Green New Deal. No, he’s far too concerned about the issue to waste time on fanatical dystopian whims. Instead, he understands that our efforts are basically null and void without pressuring China and India to follow suit. And though we may not like it, safe nuclear power is the most efficient and reliable clean power to date.

“We can no longer separate trade policy from our climate objectives. Biden will not allow other nations, including China, to game the system by becoming destination economies for polluters, undermining our climate efforts and exploiting American workers and businesses,” says the plan.

He proposes carbon adjustment fees or quotas on carbon-intensive goods from nations that fail to meet the environmental regulations laid forth in the Paris Accords.




Biden also proposes bilateral trade agreements with China to hold the country accountable, in which China must eliminate export subsidies for coal and other high-emissions technologies and prove progress in reducing the carbon footprint of its Belt-and-Road Initiative.

He enlists the help of international institutions and agreements that actually wield economic power (unlike the Paris Climate Accords) — he seeks to form a G-20 commitment to end all export subsidies on high-carbon projects and eliminate financing for coal in all but the poorest countries. He wants to reorder the International Monetary Fund bank standards on debt repayment priorities based on how environmentally upsetting the project is.

“The U.S. will lead like-minded nations to establish rules that take unsustainable climate and debt costs — such as those imposed by self-interested Chinese projects — into account in prioritizing who gets paid under international debt forbearance. Projects with high carbon impact and high debt costs will go to the end of the line, making them higher risk and more costly,” according to the plan.

As a major part of his clean energy research, Biden’s plan will support an agenda to research the issues that face nuclear energy today– cost, safety, and waste disposal systems.

Other key facets of Biden’s proposal include:

  • The deployment of more than 500,000 new public charging outlets by the end of 2030, as well as a restoration of the electric vehicle tax credit
  • Establishing an ARPA-C program which will focus on establishing grid-scale battery storage so that wind and solar energy are still readily available when the wind isn’t blowing or the sun isn’t shining, lowering the cost of building small-scale nuclear reactors and carbon capture technologies
  • Banning offshore drilling in the Arctic
  • Establishing a task force to assist fossil fuel workers in coal country find clean energy jobs

A whole slew of 2020 candidates have signed on to the Green New Deal, and a few have released their own wishy-washy plans for climate change.

O’Rourke said that the  very first bill  he send to Congress will mobilize $5 trillion over 10 years “to transform our aging infrastructure, accelerate innovation, and empower our people and communities to lead the climate fight.” Such vague solutions are supposed to magically give us net-zero emissions ten years from now in 2030, according to Beto.

Warren today released a $2 trillion  Green Manufacturing Plan that would devote $1.5 trillion to clean-energy products such as electric vehicles for government use, would devote $400 billion to research, and $100 billion to encourage foreign governments to buy U.S.-made technology. Warren plans to pay for this, universal college, universal college debt cancellation, and universal child care by extra taxes on those who generate profit. Sure, doesn’t sound like it could backfire at all.

Biden’s plan is certainly aggressive and yes, some will feel its impact. But he’s the first democratic candidate to walk the talk when it comes to combatting climate change — our willingness to kill business in the short-term for long-term global benefit will both be rendered useless and put us behind economically if we don’t actively pressure other countries to do the same.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.



Tags

jrDiscussion - desc
[]
 
JohnRussell
Professor Principal
1  seeder  JohnRussell    5 years ago

 
 
 
KDMichigan
Junior Participates
1.2  KDMichigan  replied to  JohnRussell @1    5 years ago

The plan he plagiarized? 

Sleepy Joe must have been busy with his hands instead of his mind to half to resort to stealing from other people. 

So sad.

 
 
 
Greg Jones
Professor Participates
1.3  Greg Jones  replied to  JohnRussell @1    5 years ago

Yeah, right.

"our willingness to kill business in the short-term for long-term global benefit will both be rendered useless and put us behind economically if we don’t actively pressure other countries to do the same.

None of what these left wing clowns propose will do little to slow down or stop climate change. It's simply not an important issue with most US voters

I hate to have to say it, but we are not willing to kill business and lower our living standards when the US is not the major polluter on the planet. Besides, some are saying it's bad policy when we pressure other countries to do something, such as the threatening the use of tariffs.

 
 
 
Dismayed Patriot
Professor Quiet
1.3.1  Dismayed Patriot  replied to  Greg Jones @1.3    5 years ago
None of what these left wing clowns propose will do little to slow down or stop climate change.

Glad you recognize that it could do a lot...

No one is proposing "stopping climate change". That is simply an impossibility and a straw man argument created by the right wing.

And the fact is we've done so much damage already not many proposals would be able to actually reverse mankind's effect on the climate. All we can hope to do by being better stewards is to slow the rapid increase. Right now it's like we have the gas pedal to the floor with no breaks going downhill, speeding up every second. All we can really do is choose to take our foot off the gas and hope our acceleration begins to ebb for future generations who will have to deal with the mess we made them. Sure, we could say "F' Em! Who cares about people who aren't even born yet when MY family needs more shit from Walmart right now!" but that seems like an awfully short sighted view. I know my religious conservative relatives still stuck in Ohio and Arkansas don't give a crap about the environment because they say this was all meant to be by God and God will save all those who deserve saving before this planet wipes all humanity off its face, but that seems a very callow and self-absorbed world view to take.

 
 
 
Greg Jones
Professor Participates
1.3.2  Greg Jones  replied to  Dismayed Patriot @1.3.1    5 years ago

The world view that many take is based on reality, not some pie in the sky computer model predictions far into the future.

Is the data in those models accurate, or is it corrupt and manipulated?

Who is the ambiguous "we" you keep referring to? Just us in the good old USA?

Aren't China, Russia, India, Southeast Asia, and Eastern Europe the major polluters?

Aren't South Americans continuing to cut down the rain forests at a record pace?

For now the warming has pretty much leveled out

The climate change crowd has simply not made a credible case this alleged coming catastrophe.

It all seems to be politically inspired, particularly when people who are simply skeptical of the alleged science are called "deniers"

Why the allusion to the Holocaust?

 
 

Who is online

Just Jim NC TttH


70 visitors