Can the U.S. Make Good on its Climate Goals?

LEAH STOKES, U.C. SANTA BARBARA: Sure. So there was a provision called the Clean Electricity Performance Program. It moved out of committee in the House and was expected to pass the House. But, unfortunately, Senator Manchin said that he does not want to move forward with that policy. And what it would have done is clean up our electricity system, in line with President Biden’s goal, which was to commit to 100 percent clean electricity by 2035. It would have said to each electric utility in the country, you need to get 4 percentage points cleaner every year. We need to move faster, because, the last year, we only did 2.3 percentage points, and that was the best year we have ever had. And if utilities did not move fast enough, what it would have done is say, you have to pay a penalty. So what President Biden is saying is that we need to take the $150 billion that was supposed to go to that program and reallocate it within the power sector towards investments that keep us moving in the right direction, but also in other parts of our economy to make sure that the package is going to cut pollution. Because the thing to note is that that $150 billion was a quarter of the climate spending, and the program was going to deliver one-third of the pollution cuts. So we have to figure out, how are we going to fill that hole both in terms of spending and pollution cuts?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Well, how do you think they — it looks like they’re negotiating now with Joe Manchin over that $150 billion. I mean, that’s what the president said in that clip, that they can reallocate this to other green energy programs. Can they? And would they be as effective as this — the one you have just outlined?

STOKES: Yes, I think that the White House needs to stay laser-focused on the climate crisis. They have a commitment to cut carbon pollution 50 percent this decade. And that puts us on path to these Paris agreement targets of limiting warming by 1.5 degrees. So, we have to cut that carbon pollution by 50 percent this decade. And with that program not being part of the package, we have got that hole of about one-third of the carbon pollution. So what we need is for the White House and leaders, like Majority Leader Schumer and Speaker Pelosi, to figure out how they’re going to deliver those pollution cuts. And it can’t just be in other sectors of the economy. It has to be in the power sector as well. Like President Biden was saying in the clip you played, we can have the incentive side of the program. We could invest in cleaning up our electricity grid. And that’s really important, because the way to clean up our economy is by having clean electricity power, our homes, and our cars and even parts of heavy industry.