Democrats introduced a “Green New Deal” resolution Thursday that calls for a dramatic shift in the nation’s energy system to fight climate change.
The nonbinding resolution, introduced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., contains many of the same core tenets promised by progressives eager to push Democrats further to the left on climate policy heading into the 2020 presidential election.
The resolution contains several goals that can’t be turned into actual programs since it is nonbinding, and thus serves as a messaging document more than a policy proposal. NPR posted the resolution online Thursday.
It calls for “net-zero greenhouse gas emissions” by 2030, but in a subtle shift that could expand support to centrist Democrats, it also allows for noncarbon-emitting energy sources that aren’t wind and solar power to reach the goal. Progressives had originally promised 100 percent renewable energy and banning fossil fuels.
It urges the elimination of carbon emissions for all the major sectors of the economy — electricity, manufacturing, buildings, transportation, and even agriculture — all while ensuring a “fair and just transition for all communities and workers.”
The resolution proposes massive public investments in clean energy infrastructure on things such as light rail and weatherized buildings.
The plan calls for the availability of a job to anybody who wants one, making every residential and industrial building more energy efficient, and building a national “smart” grid to better incorporate wind and solar power. It also calls for universal healthcare.
Some Democrats are wary the “Green New Deal” could be politically untenable by linking climate change with a broader liberal economic agenda. The resolution also neglects carbon pricing, a comprehensive policy favored by economists which is considered essential to avoiding the worst consequences of climate change, and has some level or support from centrist Republicans and oil and gas companies.
But the concept of a “Green New Deal”— tying climate change policy with social justice and inequality — is not new and is modeled after the original New Deal.
Presidential candidates Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Kamala Harris, D-Calif., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., have all offered some level of support for the “Green New Deal” are expected to formally co-sponsor the resolution.
The majority of Republicans, however, have dismissed the “Green New Deal” concept out of hand.
The Senate Republican Policy Committee issued a policy paper in December decrying the “Green New Deal” as expensive and technically impossible.
[Related: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggests 60, 70 percent tax rate for the rich to pay for ‘Green New Deal’]
