Youngest US Congresswoman unveils an ambitious renewable-energy plan
Washington: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest woman to serve in the US Congress, has unveiled her ambitious plan to combat climate change by drastically reducing the United States’ greenhouse-gas emissions.
Introduced on Thursday by Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat and self-described “democratic socialist”, and Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts, the resolution sets forth the objectives of a longstanding progressive initiative known as the Green New Deal, reports Efe news.
“It is the duty of the federal government to create a Green New Deal to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions through a fair and just transition for all communities and workers,” the resolution reads.
The resolution calls for accomplishing a series of “Green New Deal goals”, which include achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, creating millions of high-wage jobs, investing in infrastructure to meet 21st-century challenges and ensuring clean air and water and a sustainable environment.
It also calls for “promoting justice and equity by stopping current, preventing future, and repairing historic oppression of indigenous communities, communities of colour, migrant communities” and other “frontline and vulnerable communities”.
The resolution proposes achieving those objectives through a “10-year national mobilization” that will require, among other things, “building resiliency against climate change-related disasters”, repairing and upgrading US infrastructure and “meeting 100 per cent of the power demand in the US through clean, renewable and zero-emission energy sources”.
It also calls for “upgrading all existing buildings in the US and building new buildings to achieve maximal energy efficiency” and providing economic guarantees to workers in fossil-fuel industries to ease their transition to jobs in the renewable-energy sector.
But the plan’s fate remained unclear as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reacted with scepticism, saying it was just one of several suggestions she will receive on fighting climate change.
“The green dream or whatever they call it, nobody knows what it is, but they’re for it right?” Pelosi said in an interview with Politico news.
In a subsequent press conference, Pelosi appeared more receptive, saying she had not yet seen Ocasio-Cortez’s plan but welcomed “the enthusiasm that is there”.
She also announced the creation of a new special House committee focused on climate.
Ocasio-Cortez, who took office in January and at age 29 is the youngest member of the US Congress, will not be on that panel.