Two trillion dollars towards a just and green recovery – this is US president-elect Joe Biden’s ambition over his first term. He also aims to rejoin the Paris Agreement and achieve a net-zero US by 2050.
The extent to which this ambition can be met will depend on the outcome of Georgia’s Senate run-offs at the beginning of 2021.
The importance of these goals being unimpeded by a Republican majority Senate cannot be overstated.
According to Climate Action Tracker, the Biden plan would result in a decrease in end-of-century warming of around 0.1°C, and Vivid Economics reports that a US green recovery under the Biden plan would have the largest positive contribution to the environment of any nation.
Yet even with a Republican win in Georgia, it is clear the US is now back at the global climate table.
Biden’s climate ambitions are vast and not his alone to take credit for. Senator Bernie Sanders, representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and soon-to-be climate envoy on the National Security Council, John Kerry, have penned many of the recommendations.
Shift in business
Not all made it into the ‘build back better’ plan, but certainly many did, and it will spell a shift in business for the US – most notably for oil and gas companies and those who finance the sector.
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