Does Biden’s American Jobs Plan go big enough on climate change?

While many environmental groups see big steps in the right direction with US President Joe Biden’s $2.25 trillion plan, some progressives say the proposal is not ambitious enough.

At first glance, United States President Joe Biden’s giant American Jobs Plan seems like an environmentalist’s dream: enormous investment in electric vehicles, big tax incentives for renewable energy and widespread improvements to the ailing US power grid. The initiative would also create a Civilian Climate Corps, putting young Americans on the front lines of enhancing resilience and conserving public lands for the first time. And crucially, it would dedicate major resources to the research and development of low-emissions technology. But faced with a climate crisis that is so vast and four years of inaction by the administration of former President Donald Trump, some progressive activists are arguing that Biden’s massive $2.25 trillion infrastructure programme is too small to make a decisive difference in reversing global warming.