President Biden’s $2 Trillion plan
Insights — November 2020
Joe Biden’s election as President is likely to pivot the United States’ trajectory on clean energy
Joe Biden’s election as President is significant because it is likely to be the catalyst for a step change in policy direction and government investment and support for clean energy. The President-elect made campaign promises to re-join the Paris Climate Agreement, work with Congress to enact net-zero emissions (carbon neutral) legislation and invest US$2 trillion during his first term (c.10x the investment in the Apollo space program in today’s dollars) to set the world’s largest economy and second largest emitter on an ‘irreversible course’ to achieve net-zero emissions by no later than 2050.
Clearly a divided Congress would leave obstacles to overcome, however our perception is that large-scale spending on clean energy infrastructure (renewable energy generation capacity), electric vehicles and zero emission public transportation would still be the base case, even under a divided Congress. In our view, the two undecided Senate seats in Georgia (which will decide whether the Democrats achieve a majority in both houses) are important but not a pre-requisite for major changes. We believe the Biden Presidency is likely to be a truly generational catalyst for the clean energy thematic globally.