Averting a Clean Energy Recession

The 2020 election is crawling forward amid the coronavirus pandemic. Former Vice President Joe Biden has become the presumptive nominee for the Democratic Party, with Senator Bernie Sanders announcing his withdrawal from the race. With the primary settled, the next question is: can Biden win over Bernie’s climate supporters? And how much do these supporters matter? Speaking of support, clean energy stakeholders say they're in dire need of government help. Industry researchers project that the clean energy sector could lose more than a half million jobs — or 15 percent of its total workforce — in the coming months if no additional policy actions are taken by Congress. More than 106,000 workers already lost their jobs in the month of March alone, according to a new analysis by Environmental Entrepreneurs, the American Council on Renewable Energy, E4TheFuture and BW Research. In light of these numbers, will a Republican-led Senate step in to save the clean energy workforce? We discuss on this week’s episode of Political Climate. Recommended reading: Axios: Biden and Sanders vow joint climate work as part of endorsement NYT: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Has Never Spoken to Joe Biden. Here’s What She Would Say GTM: Virginia Mandates 100% Clean Power by 2045 The Atlantic: Coronavirus Killed the Policy Primary E2: 106,000 Jobs in Clean Energy Lost in March Due to COVID-19 Economic Crisis Political Climate is produced in partnership with the USC Schwarzenegger Institute. Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play or wherever you get podcasts! This episode is brought to you by the nonprofit environmental forum EarthX. The Earthx2020 Conference and Film Festival will be held virtually from April 22-27 to mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Find more information at www.earthx.org!