A problem of global proportion perhaps demands a solution of similar dimensions, and on Wednesday, Democratic presidential hopeful and U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris proposed a $10 trillion plan to combat global warming, aka climate change.
The California senator announced her plan Wednesday ahead of a CNN-sponsored Democratic candidates’ forum on ways to protect the environment, the Los Angeles Times reports.
As the Times explains:
To hit her climate goals, Harris said she would spend trillions in public and private funds to overhaul the country’s transportation, energy and water infrastructure.
She would expand clean-energy tax credits to achieve 100% carbon-neutral electricity within 10 years, and increase vehicle fuel economy standards to ensure that all new passenger vehicles sold in the country emit zero emissions by 2035. Her plan includes a carbon tax that would pressure polluters to emit fewer greenhouse gases.
In addition to the 2035 zero emission goal, Harris says her plan would create a “clean energy economy” by 2045, per Politico:
The plan would seek to create a clean energy economy by 2045. That involves requiring all new buses, heavy-duty vehicles and vehicle fleets to be zero-emission by 2030 and all vehicles to be 100 percent zero-emission by 2035. And it would require all new buildings to be carbon-neutral by 2030 and having a carbon neutral electric grid by 2030.
If her plan succeeded, it would hit that clean energy economy target five years earlier than the goals set forth by progressive Dems’ Green New Deal, the Times explains.
“Climate change is an existential threat to our species, and the United States must lead the world with bold action to safeguard our future and protect our planet,” Harris told the Times. “The Trump administration is pushing science fiction, not science fact, putting our health and economy at risk.”
In announcing her plan, Harris also referenced her background as a prosecutor, saying she would go after corporate polluters, as Politico reports:
“As president, I will hold polluters accountable for the damage they inflict upon our environment and set us on a path to a 100 percent clean economy that creates millions of good-paying jobs,” Harris said in a statement. “This crisis demands urgency and boldness, and as president, I will act.”
And in an age when environmental ravages of some of the most underserved and disadvantaged communities are headline news (such as reports of lead-tainted water in Flint, Mich., and Newark, N.J.), Harris indicated that a priority would be spending $250 billion over the next five years to improve drinking water infrastructure.
According to Harris, per Politico:
her proposal “lifts up the communities across our country that have been ignored for too long” and would create “millions of family-sustaining jobs.” The plan also seeks to incorporate into policy discussions the low-income, minority and indigenous communities that Harris said are too often excluded from the process.