Senator and democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders released his Green New Deal today. His proposal sets forth a broad policy goal of achieving “100 percent renewable energy for electricity and transportation by no later than 2030 and complete decarbonization by 2050.” The plan contains several provisions of specific importance to the LIHEAP and Weatherization communities, including:
- Increase annual funding for LIHEAP by $25 billion during the proposal’s transitional years;
- Provide $2.18 trillion for the weatherization of low and moderate income households and small businesses, and for replacing mobile homes with zero-energy modular housing;
- Cover 10 percent of the program costs of installation and maintenance of energy efficient heating and cooling systems; and
- Provide $964 billion in grants for low and moderate income families and small businesses to electrify their homes and buildings.
Senator Sanders is the first democratic presidential candidate to include LIHEAP by name in his climate plan, and the first to give specific dollar amounts for his proposals. Senator Sanders’s plan is also the most expensive of the proposals, totaling $16.3 trillion. While all ten candidates that have qualified for the third primary debate in September include climate change as an issue in their platform, four in addition to Senator Sanders have released detailed climate plans with total costs estimates: Joe Biden ($1.7 trillion), Julián Castro ($500 billion), Beto O’Rourk ($5 trillion), and Elizabeth Warren ($2 trillion).
