Energy and Commerce Committee, Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Press Release, Jan. 8, 2020.
Details Deep Decarbonization Strategies for Each Sector of the U.S. Economy within Committee’s Jurisdiction, and Novel Concepts for Achieving Nationwide Net-Zero Greenhouse Gas Pollution.
The CLEAN Future Act is a comprehensive proposal of sector-specific and economy-wide solutions to address the climate crisis. Critically, the CLEAN Future Act formally adopts the goal of achieving a 100 percent clean economy by 2050. According to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, avoiding the most catastrophic outcomes of climate change requires cutting carbon pollution to net-zero by 2050. The draft bill incorporates both proven and novel concepts, presenting a set of policy proposals that will put the U.S. on the path to a clean and prosperous economy.
Democrats’ Green New Deal Becomes The CLEAN Future Act
Forbes, James Conca, Jan. 15, 2020.
“More detailed and reasonable than the Green New Deal proposal, this draft legislation incorporates both proven and novel concepts to lower emissions. The Act includes economy-wide policies that will empower states to lead the transition to a clean economy, provide investment in federal, state, local, and private sector clean economy transition efforts, train the clean economy workforce of the future, and integrate climate change into U.S. national security planning.”
CLEAN Future Act Is ‘Shameful’ and ‘Greenwashing,’ say Climate Justice Groups
Critics of the CLEAN Future Act cite both its 100% renewable energy by 2050 timeline for taking action and its lack of an explicit phaseout of fossil fuel production in the United States. An often-cited 2018 report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stipulates that, by 2030, the world must see a 45% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions to avoid locking in some of the worst impacts of climate change. Another critique says the legislation allows for a “technology-neutral” approach to electricity supply, depending on market mechanisms to offset emissions from carbon-intensive fuel sources, an approach long critiqued by climate justice advocates and even recently the United Nations.