Democratic presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren floated a $2 trillion climate innovation plan Tuesday, parts of which sound a lot like Republican talking points.
The Massachusetts senator said the ambitious targets of the progressive Green New Deal won’t be reached without a concerted effort that focuses on energy innovation, green research, manufacturing, and exports “linking American innovation directly to American jobs.”
The plan sounds a lot like some of the plans coming from more conservative quarters — including the Trump administration — that innovation, not regulation, should be the way to address climate change.
Warren said the Green New Deal won’t work without a concerted effort — similar to the Apollo project of the 1960s — to push technology ahead faster in order to meet the plan’s ambitious targets.
[Also read: Joe Biden releases $5T climate change plan that goes ‘well beyond’ Obama agenda]
“While much of the debate around the Green New Deal has focused on the path to aggressive reductions in domestic greenhouse gas emissions, the science is clear: Even if we reduce America’s emissions so that they are net-zero by 2030, we will still fall far short of the reduction in global emissions needed to avert a climate crisis,” Warren said.
“We need rapid innovation on par with the space race along with widespread domestic and international adoption of clean, renewable, and emission-free energy technology,” she said.
Here’s a breakdown of what it will cost:
First, there’s $400 billion over the next decade to fund a “Green Apollo Program“ and the creation of a National Institutes of Clean Energy to advance new energy technology development and manufacturing in the United States, not offshore.
Second, the bulk of the money will go into what she refers to as “Green Industrial Mobilization.” The $1.5 trillion effort would use federal procurement to create demand for new green energy products.
Third, $100 billion would be used to create a “Green Marshall Plan” to encourage other countries to purchase and deploy American-made clean energy technology.
A Moody’s report that was released alongside Warren’s plan said the economic benefits of the senator’s proposal wouldn’t likely be realized for at least a decade.
