Hours after the most prominent climate activist among Democratic presidential hopefuls, Jay Inslee, quit the Democratic primary race, Bernie Sanders unveiled a US$16.3-trillion plan to tackle climate change and bring America to 100 percent renewable energy for electricity and transportation by no later than 2030.
The Green New Deal unveiled by Sanders on Thursday pledges direct investments of a "historic $16.3 trillion public investment toward these efforts" and takes aim at fossil fuel companies.
As president, Sanders vows to launch the decade of the Green New Deal, aimed at reaching 100 percent renewable energy and complete decarbonization by at least 2050. Sanders pledges to end unemployment by "creating 20 million jobs needed to solve the climate crisis."
"Republicans who oppose our #GreenNewDeal should explain why they don't support creating 20 million jobs and averting climate catastrophe, yet will give billions in corporate welfare to fossil fuel companies," Sanders tweeted.
The Democratic candidate, who is running for a second time to win his party's primaries, also pledged to declare climate change a national emergency, if elected president.
According to Sanders, the plan will pay for itself in 15 years.
One of the ways through which money will be raised for the plan is "Making the fossil fuel industry pay for their pollution, through litigation, fees, and taxes, and eliminating federal fossil fuel subsidies," Sanders said in his platform.
"Bernie promises to go further than any other presidential candidate in history to end the fossil fuel industry's greed, including by making the industry pay for its pollution and prosecuting it for the damage it has caused," The Green New Deal says.
Earlier this year, Greenpeace ranked the Democratic 2020 hopefuls, concluding that Inslee-who just quit the race-deserves the top marks and an A- rating, after proposing a $9 trillion climate change solution. Sanders came in second in the rankings.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews. More
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