Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said Monday that his far-reaching climate plan would cut pollution and “reclaim our democracy from the billionaire fossil fuel industry.”
The socialist candidate’s 16-page-plan aims to take his political revolution to the “fossil fuel billionaires” and “finally put people before the profits of the polluters” by cutting U.S. carbon pollution 80 percent by 2050 from 1990 levels, placing a tax on carbon pollution and doubling the number of Americans working in the clean energy industry to 10 million people.
“Right now, we have an energy policy that is rigged to boost the profits of big oil companies like Exxon, BP and Shell at the expense of average Americans. CEOs are raking in record profits while climate change ravages our planet and our people — all because the wealthiest industry in the history of our planet has bribed politicians into complacency in the face of climate change,” Sanders wrote in his plan. “Enough is enough.”
In addition to his proposed increased investments in clean energy, Sanders emphasized a transition to an electric vehicle-based infrastructure system, which he said is similar to the way the United States built a highway system in the 1950s and 1960s. He noted that although many Americans are interested in switching to an electric car, the costs and lack of access to charging stations prohibit many from actually transitioning.
During debates and on the campaign trail, Sanders has repeatedly said that climate change is the United States’ “greatest national security threat” and that the environment is “directly related to the growth of terrorism.” He argues that as the planet faces more droughts, people will be forced to migrate for survival, and that this would cause international conflict. In his plan, the second-place candidate proposes that the United States government should follow China and India’s lead in proposing clean energy plans.
“Our progress in reducing pollution levels over the last 10 years has given us the credibility to demand that major developing nations also take bold action,” Sanders said.
Environmentalists praised the plan. Sanders “shows that he has broken free of the corporate and 1 percent money that has held back climate policy for far too long” and has “issued a powerful climate justice and decisive action to keep fossil fuels in the ground,” according to Greenpeace U.S. executive director Annie Leonard.
Both Hillary Clinton and Martin O’Malley have released their own climate plans, but neither candidate has called for as much of a departure from fossil fuels as Sanders.
