Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) says that if elected president she will tackle climate change by restoring and expanding Obama-era policies, while creating incentives to expand climate research and clean energy.
What would the plan do?
Klobuchar’s plan would largely follow the same executive-action based path advanced by former President Barack Obama by implementing strict fuel efficiency standards for automobiles and limits on carbon pollution from power plants, policies now being rolled back by President Donald Trump. She would like to promote research and private sector action, and she wants to use U.S. power to force other countries to be more aggressive in curbing their emissions.
How would it work?
Executive agencies would carry out the bulk of Klobuchar’s plan. She would direct the EPA to restore and expand the Clean Power Plan, President Barack Obama’s regulatory effort to force coal plants into retirement that was later stayed by the Supreme Court and withdrawn by Trump’s EPA. A Klobuchar administration also would restore strict fuel efficiency requirements, and require the federal government to improve its own emissions. She would restore climate science to federal websites and actions, and publish climate reports.
Klobushar will ask Congress for more ambitious action, including a law to set a target of 100 percent net zero emissions by 2050, and some kind of price on carbon, though she doesn’t specify whether that would be a carbon tax, cap and trade, or something else.
Like most Democrats, she would rejoin the Paris climate agreement, and she wants to leverage U.S. foreign policy aid to force other countries who are dragging their feet on climate action to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions more quickly. She calls for acting as a counterweight to China, which is financing coal power in other nations.
How much would it cost?
$1 trillion
How would she pay for it?
Klobuchar wants Congress to put a price on carbon, and she wants to raise $50 billion to $150 billion in clean energy bonds to support clean energy projects and she calls for eliminating fossil fuel subsidies. She also will ask Congress to increase the corporate tax rate to 25 percent, reversing much of the Trump tax cut on businesses. She would establish a "financial risk fee" on banks, and increase the capital gains rate.
What have other Democrats proposed?
Former Vice President Joe Biden proposed spending $1.7 trillion over 10 years to leverage $5 trillion in private, state, and local investments into clean energy.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) proposed spending $16.3 trillion over the next decade to move the U.S. to a clean economy.
Entreprenuer Andrew Yang would focus on technological innovation while using federal dollars to help the communities most at risk.
Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke unveiled his vision for the government and private sector to spend $5 trillion over 10 years on clean energy infrastructure.
Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo) would also spend $1 trillion to move the U.S. to 100 percent clearn energy by 2050.
Billionaire Tom Steyer proposed a "justice centered" climate plan.
Click Here: Tienda Atlas