A Hopeful House Climate Plan Has a Big Hole
Setting ambitious emissions targets is one thing. Banking on technology that doesn’t exist yet to get there is another.
A new climate plan from House Democrats may help lead and shape the debate over future policy.
Photographer: F. Carter Smith/Bloomberg
House Democrats last week released a wide-ranging plan for tackling climate change and related environmental issues, including proposals to set targets for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, promote alternative-energy technologies, create new building codes and even revive the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps. While it probably won’t go anywhere in today’s divided Congress, and it isn’t as far-reaching as the more progressive Green New Deal, the plan is significant as it may become the new baseline for a discussion on energy, the environment and potential future policies. This may especially be so should Democrats win back control of the White House and capture both houses of Congress this fall.
The plan sets forth standards for energy’s transition in the next decade and beyond, and in doing so, takes a crucial step forward in the discussion by acknowledging that there are realistic limits on the advancement of the technology needed to fully transform our platforms. The report states, for instance, that moving toward a regime of zero-carbon emissions “may require new technologies that have yet to be invented.” This is a groundbreaking admission.