What Does the Green New Deal Mean for Energy Policy and Cleantech?
The Green New Deal resolution was recently introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. It is important to note that is specifically a resolution, as opposed to legislation, which is one reason people have a poor grasp on what is actually being proposed. A resolution doesn’t have the specificity of legislation — by design, it is more of a set of goals or priorities, which can be useful for debate but can also be more difficult to estimate a price tag for.
That said, we do know that it prioritizes a transition to 100% carbon-free electricity over the next 10 years along with a number of other energy and climate-related provisions, such as promoting energy efficiency and the expansion of both electric vehicle infrastructure and high-speed rail. It also includes other policy ideas that are not as connected to energy and climate (a jobs guarantee, universal healthcare, etc…).
While this will not be used as a template for legislation that is enacted any time soon, it is very interesting how it can shape the discussion, both by increasing the salience of climate as a policy issue and by shifting the scope of the debate on the subject.
There is some skepticism as to whether this is a smart tactic for people who care about addressing climate change (or whether it will distort the debate around climate policy by making it easier for opponents of action to frame climate solutions as an unrealistic and expensive government takeover).
My best guess is that it actually spells good news for bipartisan activity on climate, specifically in the form of carbon taxes. This might seem counterintuitive since the Green New Deal is roundly rejected by Republicans and doesn’t even really mention carbon taxes; however, by establishing the Green New Deal as what liberals are asking for on energy legislation, it will be easier to position carbon taxes as a conservative or middle-of-the-road solution and pass a carbon tax on a bipartisan basis.
Indeed, partially driven by the emphasis on the Green New Deal, some Republicans are increasingly vocal about how they need to propose their own solutions and can’t just ignore climate as an issue. Expect formerJohn Kasich to be one of the loudest voices here:
“This is like a call to arms. Let’s have conservatives have a discussion instead of being in denial that this is a problem. You can’t just be a science denier.”
— John Kasich, former Ohio governor, 2016 Republican Presidential Candidate, and likely 2020 Republic Presidential Candidate
I for one am very excited by the increasing focus on the issue and welcome the exchange of ideas from all parts of the political spectrum. What does this all mean for cleantech? Good things, most likely. Whatever action is taken to address climate is likely to include a suite of changes that directly or indirectly improve the value proposition of a variety of clean energy technologies. Comprehensive action on this issue is also likely to be accompanied by a badly needed increase in federal support for clean energy innovation.
