What to expect on climate change

President Joe Biden is expected to unveil details of a major infrastructure package this week that is expected to include record spending to mitigate climate change and accelerate a national transition to clean energy.

The president is expected to invest up to $ 3 trillion in spending for efforts to stimulate the economy, including rebuilding aging infrastructure such as highways, bridges and railroads, and investing in technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that warm the planet.

Some of the policies on the table include:

• Installation of thousands of new charging stations for electric vehicles
• Fund to build energy efficient homes
• Construction of new power lines

The package can be split into two bills, starting with legislation that incorporates Biden’s Build Back Better program and supports its goal of achieving carbon-free power generation by 2035 and net zero emissions. ‘by 2050.

The stimulus package will potentially involve the installation of thousands of electric vehicle charging stations and incentives to encourage Americans to buy electric vehicles.

As a candidate, Biden pledged to set ambitious fuel economy standards for gasoline-powered cars to encourage the switch to electric vehicles. The transportation sector accounts for the largest share of U.S. emissions, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, and could be the most difficult to decarbonize.

The package is also poised to include funding to build millions of new energy efficient homes and renovate existing buildings to increase efficiency. There is money to build power lines that provide renewable energy and expand electricity storage.

Paul Bledsoe, Clinton’s former White House climate adviser now at the Progressive Policy Institute, said Biden’s goal was to jumpstart the economy and create new jobs during the transition away from fossil fuels.

“Electrifying American cars and trucks, creating a nationwide smart grid, expanding electricity storage to enable more renewable energy, establishing universal high-speed internet – all of these are aimed at boosting productivity and competitiveness of the economy while reducing emissions, ”Bledsoe told me.

Loading low-carbon energy initiatives into an infrastructure bill is likely to be more divisive in Congress than previous Covid stimulus legislation. The last major push to pass climate legislation through the Senate came in 2009, when Democrats in Congress failed to pass a carbon pricing system.

Some Democrats and climate activists fear another failure to pass meaningful climate legislation, fearing that a clean energy transition could cost jobs.

Some Republicans who opposed Biden’s pandemic relief program have also condemned the president’s goal of incorporating climate policy into infrastructure legislation.

Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., The top Republican on the House Transport and Infrastructure Committee, said he would work with Democrats on infrastructure, but prioritizing climate issues would not receive support of the GOP.

“A freight bill has to be a freight bill, not a Green New Deal,” Graves said in a hearing Thursday. “They have to be roads and bridges.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday that she would support a bipartisan bill, but would not remove elements dealing with climate change due to Republican objections.

“We cannot be content with what we can agree on without recognizing that this has to be a bill for the future, that we have to recognize the climate crisis,” Pelosi told reporters.

Biden argued that his climate actions would create millions of jobs. The president has already issued a series of executive climate decrees, including the suspension of new oil and gas leases on federal lands and the return of the United States to the Paris climate agreement.

The administration is leaning toward pursuing bipartisan infrastructure legislation and passing other elements through budget reconciliation, which would require only Senate Democrats to vote.

“To gain the broadest support in Congress, Biden must focus on the economic and job benefits of these investments above all else, and not just the climate benefits,” Bledsoe said.

Stephanie Gidigbi Jenkins, director of policy and partnerships at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the administration’s infrastructure proposal so far “is clearly focused on the right issues.”

“Making these investments will create millions of good American jobs and help us fight the legacy of racial injustice,” Jenkins said.

“Given the ambitions of the Biden administration and the commitment of key leaders in Congress, we now have a historic opportunity to rebuild our economy for a cleaner, brighter future,” Jenkins added. “We are confident that Congress can achieve these goals.”