Joe Biden says green energy will create ‘millions of jobs’

On Saturday, Biden was interviewed in an episode of Pod Save America, where he discussed green energy, battery storage, EVs and charging stations, and climate change in depth. He said: “It’s the number one issue facing humanity. And it’s the number one issue for me.”

For example, in his conversation, Biden stated:

Climate change is the existential threat to humanity… Unchecked, it is going to actually bake this planet. This is not hyperbole. It’s real. And we have a moral obligation…

It also presents an enormous opportunity… We need a president who can lead the world as well as do the things we have to do and can do.

We can’t be cavalier about the impact it’s going to have on how we’re going to transition to do all this.

But I just think it’s a gigantic opportunity, a gigantic opportunity to create really good jobs.

No one is going to build another oil or gas-fired electric plant. They’re going to build one that is fired by renewable energy… The fastest-growing industries are solar and wind.

You can listen to the full podcast here where he discussed it in-depth and watch the discussion below. Biden was interviewed by Dan Pfeiffer, a former senior adviser to Barack Obama.

Last week, the topic of climate change was included in the presidential debates for the very first time. Biden said he would “transition from the oil industry” to solar, wind, and other green energy. He stated then as well that green energy would create jobs and benefit the economy.

But Biden says he won’t ban fracking, and said after the debate:

We’re getting of the subsidies for fossil fuels. But we’re not getting rid of fossil fuels for a long time… they’re not going to lose their jobs. Besides, a lot more jobs are going to be created in other alternatives.

Electrek’s Take

A lot of mainstream media are asking whether Biden’s stance on ultimately scrapping oil is going to hurt him in swing states like Pennsylvania and Texas that employ voting fossil fuel workers. Overall, 72% of Americans believe that global warming is real, and 86% want funding for green energy research.

But Big Oil is already transitioning away from fossil fuels on their own. For example, Shell announced the cut of up to 9,000 jobs due to an oil demand slump and the pandemic at the end of September, and in April, it announced that it intends to reach net zero by 2050 or sooner by selling more green energy.

Why is Shell and other Big Oil companies such as BP making that move? Because green energy is now good business. Biden’s $2 trillion plan that puts the US on a path to net zero from the electricity sector by 2035 and net-zero emissions by 2050 will just accelerate that.