We wake this morning with wonderful news that Joe Biden will become the 46th President of the USA. He was very strong during the campaign on the need to properly address climate change and reduce emissions. He even went out on a limb and said the fossil fuel industry needs to be phased out - which of course is true - and still won despite the apocalyptic-level scare campaign it generated.
So what can we expect?
So what can we expect?
- The USA will rejoin the Paris Climate Change Agreement on 20 January. Biden can do this via Executive Order, it does not need to go through Congress. He said he will do it on Day 1.
- He will unwind every single one of Donald Trump’s efforts to weaken pollution controls and car emissions standards.
- He will formally set a “net zero” emissions target by 2050 for the USA.
- He will unleash billions if not trillions of dollars of investment in renewable energy to transition away from fossil fuels, bringing jobs to the “rust belt” and mid-west. His natural inclination will be to negotiate a package even if the Senate is hostile, as that way the policy becomes more ‘sticky’. But if they become bloody-minded and obstructionist, he does have the option of appropriating the funds by declaring Climate Change to be a national emergency and therefore bypassing Congress. Donald Trump set the precedent by declaring the construction of the Mexican Border wall to be an “emergency” after Congress refused to release the money for it. At least Climate Change is a real emergency rather than a confected one.
- He aims to massively increase the number of EV charging stations around the country.
- He will remove the manufacturer cap on the $7500 EV tax credit and restore the tax credit permanently for US-made electric vehicles, but narrow it to “middle-income” or lower buyers, meaning people with less than $250,000 annual income. This will be enormously helpful to Tesla.
- He aims to to see fossil fuel subsidies cut but this will require legislation through Congress.
- He will reinstate the solar investment tax credit.
- He will reinstate tax credits for residential energy efficiency