Young, left-wing activists are threatening that, whether they ultimately support Joe Biden, now the presumptive Democratic nominee, is contingent on his signing onto major pieces of their agenda, including aggressive commitments to tackle climate change.
A coalition of youth groups is demanding Biden adopt “the frameworks of the Green New Deal,” the sweeping climate policy championed by liberal Bernie Sanders surrogate and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The groups’ climate requests topped a detailed list of liberal policies and personnel commitments they’re seeking from Biden to win their support, released just hours after Bernie Sanders suspended his campaign.
“Calling for solutions that match the scale, scope, and urgency of the problems we are facing is not radical,” the groups wrote. “If nothing else, this moment of crisis should show that it is the pragmatic thing to do.”
The letter signals that Sanders supporters, who have lost leverage as the Democratic Party has united behind Biden, are trying to capitalize on their youth pull to push Biden further to the left in several major policy areas, including climate change.
The groups, which include the breakout youth climate group the Sunrise Movement, NextGen America, and Justice Democrats, said they’d spend more than $100 million to mobilize young voters, a demographic Biden has struggled to win over and that Democrats will need to motivate to go to the polls for a chance to win the White House in November.
Many of the specific commitments the groups are asking for, though, go far beyond the climate policies Biden has outlined, which are already more ambitious than where many Democrats were four years ago.
For example, the groups are asking Biden to commit to a 100% clean energy target by 2030, 20 years earlier than the timeline set in the former vice president’s climate plan.
The groups also want Biden to support a $10 trillion investment in “green stimulus” and infrastructure over the next decade. Currently, Biden’s climate plan commits to $1.7 trillion in investment over 10 years, which the campaign says would leverage private sector and state and local dollars to total more than $5 trillion.
Their letter also asks Biden to commit to prosecute fossil fuel executives and lobbyists and to pledge not to appoint anyone who’s been affiliated with the fossil fuel industry. Liberal environmentalists have slammed one of Biden’s climate advisers, Heather Zichal, who was previously on the board of Cheniere Energy, a leading producer of liquefied natural gas.
Biden, in a statement on Sanders dropping out of the race, tried to appeal to young liberals, saying he understood he needed to win over Sanders supporters.
“[W]e all know — the clock is ticking — we don’t have a moment to waste in combating the climate crisis,” Biden said. He later added to Sanders supporters, “I want you to know that I see you, I hear you, and I understand the urgency of this moment.”
