Solar and wind power companies may have the most to gain from the Green New Deal, an ambitious proposal backed by several Democratic presidential candidates to end U.S. fossil fuel consumption within a decade, Reuters writes. But do not expect the renewable energy firms to endorse it.
Representatives of America’s clean energy companies are withholding their support for the climate-fighting plan, calling it unrealistic and too politically divisive for an industry keen to grow in both red and blue states, Reuters points out.
The cool reaction reflects the difficulty that progressive politicians vying for the White House may have in selling aggressive global-warming policy to the business community and more moderate voters.
It also underscores a new reality for U.S. solar and wind power companies long associated with the environmental left: As they have improved technology and lowered prices, their growth is shifting from politically liberal coastal states to the more conservative heartland, where skepticism of climate change and government subsidies runs high.
“If you just broadly endorse the Green New Deal, you are liable to upset one side of the aisle or the other. And that’s not constructive,” said Tom Werner, the CEO of SunPower Corp, one of the nation’s biggest solar power companies.
“The idea that you could go 100 percent (clean energy) in 10 years would require a lot of things happening perfectly, simultaneously,” he said. “You’d have to have bipartisan support, 52-state support.”
The Green New Deal was introduced last month by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat Congresswoman from New York, along with fellow Democrat Senator Edward Markey of Massachusetts. It has since become the center of a renewed debate in Washington about how vigorously the government must act to address climate change.
The Congressional resolution, which has no force of law, calls for the federal government to make investments to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in a decade by meeting 100 percent of America’s power demand with clean, renewable sources such as solar, wind, hydroelectric, or geothermal energy.
According to FOX Business, President Donald Trump hopes that Democrats will continue to go forward with the Green New Deal.
“It’s the most preposterous thing,” Trump said during an exclusive interview with FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo. “I really hope they keep going forward with it… because I think it’s going to be very easy to beat.”
Ocasio-Cortez on Thursday spoke out on her resolution during a “Late Night” appearance.
“They are trying to say that the Green New Deal is about what we have to give up, what we have to cut back on,” she told “Late Night” host Seth Meyers, “when in fact it’s a resolution to be more expansive. It is to be able to generate more and to make sure we are investing in working class… Americans.”
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