Biden plan lags Green New Deal in fighting emissions from homes

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s climate plan lags behind the Green New Deal when it comes to reducing carbon emissions by making homes more energy efficient, according to a new report.

Biden’s plan would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 6.6 million tons by 2025 versus 263 million metric tons for the Green New Deal over the same period, according to analysis from Carbon Switch, which advocates for energy efficiency.

The difference largely boils down to the rate at which each plan calls for weatherizing homes. The Biden plan calls for weatherizing 2 million homes over 4 years. The Green New Deal’s call for a 10-year mobilization to upgrade all homes would require weatherizing 8 million homes a year compared to Biden’s 500,000. 

The analysis only evaluated the two plans’ approach to reducing the footprint of buildings, which currently account for 35 percent of US emissions. Broadly, Biden’s plan calls for net-zero emissions by 2050, with the electric sector meeting that goal first in 2035.

“There’s no doubt that the difference between a Biden administration and Trump administration would be stark,” the group wrote in its analysis, while adding later its analysis of the Biden plan shows “these reductions would fall far short of those needed to meet the Paris Agreement.”

The report comes as Biden has tried to distinguish his climate plan from the 14-page resolution introduced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.). 

“My deal is the crucial framework, not the New Green Deal,” Biden said at a town hall last week. 

Carbon Switch agreed with that assessment.

“In the final weeks of the campaign, Trump will likely continue to frame Biden’s climate plan as ‘radical.’ But there’s no doubt: Biden’s climate plan is no Green New Deal.”