There’s Now an Official Green New Deal. Here’s What’s in It. -- By David Roberts

A close look at the fights it picks and the fights it avoids.

On Thursday, Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) introduced a Green New Deal resolution that lays out the goals, aspirations, and specifics of the program in a more definitive way.  This is as close as there is to an “official” Green New Deal — at last, something to argue about.

There will be lots to say in the days to come about the politics of all this.  (In the meantime, read Ella Nilsen’s piece.)  For instance, it is interesting that Markey, a living symbol of 2008-era Democratic thinking on climate change (and the leader of the old climate committee), is lending his imprimatur to this more urgent and radical iteration.
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The resolution consists of a preamble, five goals, 14 projects, and 15 requirements.  The preamble establishes that there are two crises, a climate crisis and an economic crisis of wage stagnation and growing inequality, and that the GND can address both.

The goals — achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, creating jobs, providing for a just transition, securing clean air and water — are broadly popular.  The projects — things like decarbonizing electricity, transportation, and industry, restoring ecosystems, upgrading buildings, and electricity grids — are necessary and sensible (if also extremely ambitious).

There are a few items down in the requirements that might raise red flags (more on those later), but given the long road ahead, there will be plenty of time to sort them out.  Overall, this is about as strong an opening bid as anyone could have asked for.

Now let’s take a closer look.

Read much more at There’s Now an Official Green New Deal.  Here’s What’s in It.