This week, as world leaders gather in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, the United States will deliver a message that many consider implausible: We will cut a half of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and zero by 2050.
Over the past 20+ months as America’s first national climate adviser, I’ve witnessed a paradigm shift: The private sector no longer sees climate action as a cause of job losses. jobs, but opportunities for job creation and economic recovery.
It’s a remarkable shift after four years of the Trump administration, which threw science out the window and backed out of the Paris climate agreement. In 2020, the future looks grim. But today, states and companies across the country are moving toward a clean energy future. How did what was once considered impossible become not only possible but at the core of America’s economic and manufacturing revival?
In my early days as a manager with the Environmental Protection Agency, auto dealers predicted that the move to cleaner cars would mean skyrocketing car costs and falling sales, while autoworkers and steelworkers talk about plant closures and layoffs. Very early in the Biden administration, when labor had full and equal participation at the dinner table, the old model assumed that cleaner standards meant it was hard to break the pattern of job losses. And unions fear that a major switch to electric vehicles could pose a fundamental threat to their workers.
But quickly the conversation turned to one of long-term capital investments in electric vehicle technology, expanding domestic production, adding more union jobs and building an electric vehicle market that could reach 50%. US new car sales by 2030. Just a short time ago this shift would have been dismissed as a fairy tale. No more.
What helps change the conversation is the voice of young leaders as the impacts of climate change become more severe. Severe wildfires are burning homes, flooding is sweeping through communities and extreme heat is threatening lives and livelihoods, especially for low-income communities.
Public and private investment in research and development also promotes the development of clean technology, reduces costs and attracts industry. Since 2010, the cost of solar has fallen by 85%, wind power by 59% onshore and 71% offshore, and lithium-ion batteries by 89%. It is expected that by 2030, more than 120,000 wind turbines will provide clean energy to American homes, businesses, and communities, and nearly a billion solar panels will operate in the US.
As technology advanced and companies saw the potential for profit, the private sector looked to the government for clear signals and sound policies. Over time, the governors of the blue and red states, and the mayors of cities around the country, began working towards clean energy goals with standards for clean energy.
When President Biden took office, he signed executive orders that created timetables and milestones for every sector of the economy and mobilized his entire administration toward this goal. The president has sent clear signals to the private sector that clean energy is the future and they need to get involved. , and more.
Then we secured the historic Inflation Reduction Act – the most drastic climate action in US history. When President Barack Obama took office, there were 500 toll booths nationwide. Now, thanks to President Biden’s bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we plan to install 500,000 chargers across the country. Every major automaker has signed on to the president’s goal of achieving 50% of electric vehicle sales nationwide by 2030, a goal that was considered ludicrous just two years ago.
The United States is now becoming a magnet for investment and clean energy innovation. Since President Biden took office, companies have invested nearly $85 billion in the production of electric vehicles, batteries, and EV chargers in the United States. The US is currently on track to triple its domestic solar generation capacity by 2024, and in 2021 alone, investors have announced $2.2 billion in new funding for wind supply chains. offshore.
But make no mistake: We have a long way to go. The task of completely reshaping our economy is daunting, especially in a country as large and complex as ours.
Take the U.S. manufacturing sector, which produces materials like steel and cement, as critical sectors for rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure. It has been based on a fossil fuel-based system for almost 200 years, so reshaping the system means ensuring that these industrial workers have the training and resources to build the economy. clean energy economy.
Now, we have a “Buy clean“The initiative, which includes support from the Steel Workers Union, aims to leverage the federal government’s procurement power for low-carbon steel, concrete, asphalt and glass. The challenge ahead of us is to align these massive supply chains, from buyer to seller, in a way that allows us to run faster.
While the United States has made great progress, we need a globally harmonized effort to confront climate change. When I see a third of Pakistan being submerged by severe floods, or more than 700 million people across the globe without access to electricity, I am very concerned about how fundamental human health and wellness challenges will make the transition away from fossil fuels difficult. Change in the US is not easily replicated in many parts of the world. And to get where we need to go, we need the whole world to run.
The road is still long, and progress will be uneven. But as I leave my White House office, I am optimistic that America is now ready to lead this decisive decade.
Gina McCarthy is the outgoing national climate adviser and former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
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