Full Title: Red Light, Green Deal, Yellow Light: Biden’s Energy Roadmap
Author(s): Anna Mikulska, Michael D. Maher
Publisher(s): Baker Institute for Public Policy
Publication Date: October 5, 2022
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
President Joe Biden rode into office with big plans for green energy in the United States and a focus on climate policy measures. But his attempts to address the complex energy and environmental issues of climate change have encountered significant challenges: a perfect storm of factors that traverse politics, geopolitics, economic nationalism, legislatures, regulatory agencies, supply chains and market forces across multiple sectors. The contentious nature of American politics, as well as a series of inopportune global events, all but derailed Biden’s most ambitious goals. In effect, his administration has had to make peace with much more limited climate action. Indeed, Biden has continued backing US oil and gas production amid geopolitical and domestic difficulties related to renewable energy infrastructure and production.
This issue brief outlines the hurdles Biden’s energy policy has encountered and the limitations of his plan going forward. After initially getting the “red light” on his first plan, Biden has succeeded in getting a green light for a scaled-down version of the law. However, several “yellow lights” are likely to slow down its implementation.