Democratic presidential candidate,former vice-president Joe Biden.Credit:AP
"Let's not waste any more time,"Biden said at a campaign event in Wilmington,Delaware on Tuesday,US time."Let's get to work now,now."
Beyond the goal of reducing carbon emissions,Biden said his climate package would provide a badly needed jolt to a US economy battered by the coronavirus pandemic,ultimately creating millions of new jobs in the clean-energy sector.
"When Donald Trump thinks about climate change,the only word he can muster is'hoax'. When I think about climate change,the word I think of is'jobs'. Good-paying union jobs that put Americans to work,"said Biden,who will face President Donald Trump,a Republican,in the November 3 election.
Biden's revised climate plan would require the country to be producing 100 per cent clean electricity by 2035,moving up his original target date by 15 years – a timeline borrowed from former presidential candidates Jay Inslee and Elizabeth Warren.
Since emerging as the prospective Democratic nominee,Biden has been pressed by activists in the party to adopt more expansive climate policies.
His proposal now would spend more money more quickly than his original approach,calling for $US2 trillion in new spending during his first term as president,according to a copy of the plan released by his campaign. He had first suggested spending $US1.7 trillion over a decade.