Instead of narrowly addressing carbon pricing, as economists have traditionally favored, the proposal has many aims
Read the full Risky Climate column at Bloomberg Green.
The climate policy choice in the U.S. Presidential election could not be clearer. One trusts science, the other dismisses and undermines it. One has a plan, the other does not.
In fact, Democratic candidate Joe Biden’s plan is the most ambitious climate plan ever proposed by a major U.S. presidential candidate. The headline goal of 100% carbon-free electricity by 2035, for example, is more ambitious even than Bernie Sanders’s from 2016. The $2 trillion investment over four years on clean energy, weatherizing homes, and mass transit approaches pandemic proportions.
Equally important are the many other plans for everything from environmental justice to foreign policy and government reform, including potentially a new White House office to coordinate climate activities across the government.
That important big climate push, aided by considerable momentum around climate as a top issue of concern for voters, also creates a particular bind for those long focused on climate issues, often in isolation: many economists, in short, don’t quite know what to do with such a transformational policy push.
Continue reading at Bloomberg Green.