WoodMac: Biden Loss Would End Hopes of US Decarbonization by 2050

by Karl-Erik Stromsta (GreenTechMedia) The upcoming U.S. presidential election will dictate the pace of decarbonization in the world’s largest economy for decades, according to new research from Wood Mackenzie. Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s $2 trillion climate plan, including a pledge to set the power sector on a course for complete decarbonization by 2035, would kick the U.S. energy transition into hyperdrive, says Dan Shreve, research director at Wood Mackenzie.

“Biden’s plan teeters between achievable and aspirational, but the backing of energy sector giants could tip the balance and once again establish the U.S. as a leader in the fight against climate change,” Shreve writes in a newly published research note.

“If Biden’s bid fails, the U.S. will forfeit four more years in the fight against climate change. This would dramatically reduce the possibility of eliminating carbon emissions from the region’s power grid before 2050.”

President Trump has championed fossil-fuel production and consumption, including coal, the most polluting form of power generation.

Shreve warns that the U.S. oil and gas sector, which lags European companies such as BP and Shell in clean-energy investments and commitments, risks being left behind.

“The oil and gas sector must carefully hedge against a failure of the carbon capture, utilization and storage market to reach commercialization,” he wrote. “Failure to engage now may result in surrendering market position to a burgeoning club of energy majors in a zero-carbon future.”