Jun 5, 2019 - Energy & Climate

Biden and Warren want new federal agencies to fight climate change

Ben Geman

This image is a split screen of Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden, who are both standing and speaking into microphones. — Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren. Photos: Miikka Skaffari/Getty Images for MoveOn and Scott Eisen/Getty Images

Frontrunner Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren's respective plans to combat climate change, which were unveiled Tuesday, both call for creating new federal agencies.

Why it matters: The plans signal acknowledgment that the federal government's existing structures are imperfectly aligned to spur deep emissions cuts.

Where it stands: Warren's $2 trillion "green manufacturing" plan would form a National Institutes of Clean Energy. Biden wants to create a cross-agency Advanced Research Projects Agency for climate (ARPA-C).

There are other examples. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee's platform, for instance, revives the idea of creating a federal Clean Energy Deployment Authority (or "green bank").

But, but, but: There are tradeoffs. Standing up new bureaucracies takes time and often congressional authorization.

There's also some controversy attached to Biden's plan, after his campaign "amended his climate policy plan hours after it was released Tuesday because a handful of passages did not credit some of the sources in the proposal," AP reports.

Go deeper: NYT's Brad Plumer tweeted helpful comparisons of the price tag of candidates' climate plans.

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Biden and Warren want new federal agencies to fight climate change

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