Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden announced an aggressive $2 trillion plan to climate and environmental issues today, which includes plans to use the construction and manufacture of environmentally friendly buildings and products to stimulate the economy, according to a write-up in The New York Times.
“When Donald Trump thinks about climate change, the only word he can muster is ‘hoax,'” Biden said. “When I think about climate change, the word I think of is ‘jobs.’”
Biden’s plan calls for the conversation of the federal government’s fleet of vehicles to electric power, upgrading the energy efficiency of four million buildings in four years, and going to an emissions-free energy sector by 2035.
Noting that pollution tends to impact communities of color disproportionately, Biden said that his plan would address the fact that “environmental policy decisions of the past have failed communities of color.”
Biden highlighted the lack of progress the Trump Administration has made on infrastructure and the regression it’s caused for environmental causes.
“Seems like every few weeks when he needs a distraction from the latest charges of corruption in his staff, or the conviction of high-ranking members of administration and political apparatus, the White House announces, quote, ‘It’s Infrastructure Week,’” Biden said
Characterizing Biden’s plan as “visionary,” former presidential candidate and Washington governor Jay Inslee said, “It is comprehensive. This is not some sort of, ‘Let me just throw a bone to those who care about climate change.’”