Energy
2020 Democrat Ups the Ante, Unveils A $10 Trillion Climate Change Agenda
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Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet upped the ante on how much cash he wants to fight climate change, according to a plan his presidential campaign released Monday.
Bennet, one of 24 prominent Democrats running for president in 2020, unveiled a plan to create a Climate Bank to “catalyze $10 trillion in private sector investment in innovation and infrastructure” aimed at tackling global warming and creating millions of jobs, according to his website.
“The Climate Bank will collaborate with states and the private sector, not Washington, to deploy U.S. capital to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and decrease climate risks faster than current market conditions allow,” Bennet’s website reads.
Bennet is the latest 2020 candidate to unveil a sweeping climate change plan, though it seems to up the ante in terms of how much funding he wants to dedicate to the issue.
Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke put forward a $5 trillion climate agenda, for example, while Washington Gov. Jay Inslee put forward a $9 trillion proposal. Bennet joined the crowded 2020 field in early May.
Other Democratic candidates support the Green New Deal championed by New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and far-left youth activists.
The Green New Deal aims to completely decarbonize the U.S. economy within 10 years while expanding the welfare state, but is estimated to cost tens of trillions of dollars. Though it’s hard to put a price tag on the Green New Deal since it’s just a slew of broad policy goals.
Bennet’s plan has seven broad goals, including reaching net-zero emissions no later than 2050, creating 10 million jobs, making buildings more efficient and creating a board of youth environmental activists to weigh in on climate policies.
The plan states that “if a corruption of inaction continues to prevent it, we will act through the authority the Clean Air Act and other statutes grant the President” to enact Bennet’s climate agenda.
“And we will commit the resources necessary to the Departments of Justice and Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency to defend that action in court,” reads Bennet’s campaign website.
The big question is whether or not American voters will support sweeping climate agendas with big price tags. Elsewhere in the world, voters have rejected such policies, most recently in Australia where conservatives won a major upset against liberals that ran on a climate-centric platform.
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