Last week presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden formally announced an updated plan to address climate change: a 100 percent carbon-free power sector by 2035. This plan, at $2 trillion, is not only costly, but it relies on reducing the cost of carbon capture technology, which has yet to be proven commercially viable, writes AAF’s Director of Energy Policy Ewelina Czapla. Natural gas and oil generators who are subject to this plan and are not able to implement carbon capture technology may be forced to shut down, and as a result consumer prices could rise, she argues.

Czapla concludes:

Biden’s plan appears to be more of the same — policy proposals focused on instituting additional mandates and providing subsidies. It is difficult to imagine a scenario where natural gas facilities would be deemed uneconomic in the next 15 years leading to their demise. In fact, the Energy Information Administration estimates suggest otherwise. Under Biden’s plan, however, it appears that these facilities may be replaced by their renewable counterparts by way of mandates and at a higher cost to retail consumers. Rather than focusing on the implementation of technology that has yet to prove its viability under the guise of addressing climate change, jobs, and environmental justice, the United States would be better served by a policy program that is an outgrowth of technological and economic realities.

Read the analysis.