Early efforts In 2006, a Green New Deal was created by the Green New Deal Task Force as a plan for one hundred percent clean, renewable energy by 2030 utilizing a
carbon tax, a
jobs guarantee, free college,
single-payer healthcare, and a focus on using public programs. Since 2006, the Green New Deal has been included in the platforms of multiple Green Party candidates, such as
Howie Hawkins' gubernatorial campaigns in
2010,
2014, and
2018, and Jill Stein's
2012 and
2016 presidential campaigns.
The Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Markey Green New Deal Background A "Green New Deal" wing began to emerge in the
Democratic Party after the
November 2018 elections. A possible program in 2018 for a "Green New Deal" assembled by the think tank Data for Progress was described as "pairing labor programs with measures to combat the
climate crisis." A November 2018 article in
Vogue stated, "There isn't just one Green New Deal yet. For now, it's a platform position that some candidates are taking to indicate that they want the American government to devote the country to preparing for climate change as fully as
Franklin Delano Roosevelt once did to reinvigorating the economy after the
Great Depression." Following this, several candidates came out supporting a "Green New Deal", including
Deb Haaland,
Rashida Tlaib,
Ilhan Omar, and
Antonio Delgado. They were joined in the following weeks by Reps.
John Lewis,
Earl Blumenauer,
Carolyn Maloney, and
José Serrano. By the end of November, eighteen Democratic members of Congress were co-sponsoring a proposed House Select Committee on a Green New Deal, and incoming representatives
Ayanna Pressley and
Joe Neguse had announced their support. Draft text would task this committee with a "'detailed national, industrial, economic mobilization plan' capable of making the U.S. economy 'carbon neutral' while promoting 'economic and
environmental justice and equality,'" to be released in early 2020, with draft legislation for implementation within 90 days. Organizations supporting a Green New Deal initiative include the
Sunrise Movement,
350.org,
Greenpeace,
Sierra Club,
Extinction Rebellion and
Friends of the Earth.
Euronews, the pan-European TV network, displayed video of youth with signs saying "Green New Deal," "No excuses", and "Do your job" in its "No Comment" section. On December 14, 2018, a group of over 300 local elected officials from 40 states issued a letter endorsing a Green New Deal approach. That same day, a poll released by
Yale Program on Climate Change Communication indicated that although 82% of registered voters had not heard of the "Green New Deal," it had strong bi-partisan support among voters. A
non-partisan description of the general concepts behind a Green New Deal resulted in 40% of respondents saying they "strongly support", and 41% saying they "somewhat support" the idea. On January 10, 2019, over 600 organizations submitted a letter to Congress declaring support for policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This includes phasing out fossil fuel extraction and ending
fossil fuel subsidies, transitioning to 100% clean renewable energy by 2035, expanding public transportation, and strict emission reductions rather than reliance on carbon emission trading.
Green New Deal Resolution On February 7, 2019, Representative
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator
Edward Markey released a fourteen-page resolution for their Green New Deal (House Resolution 109, closely related to S. Res. 59). Their proposal advocated transitioning the United States to 100% renewable, zero-emission energy sources, along with investment in
electric cars and
high-speed rail systems, and implementing the "
social cost of carbon" that had been part of the Obama administration's plan for addressing climate change within 10 years. Besides increasing
state-sponsored jobs, this Green New Deal also sought to address poverty by aiming much of the improvements in "frontline and vulnerable communities" which include poor and disadvantaged people. The resolution included calls for
universal health care, increased minimum wages, and preventing
monopolies. According to
The Washington Post (February 11, 2019), the resolution called for a "10-year national mobilization" whose primary goals would be: :"Guaranteeing a job with a family-sustaining wage, adequate family and medical leave, paid vacations, and retirement security to all people of the United States." :"Providing all people of the United States with – (i) high-quality health care; (ii) affordable, safe, and adequate housing; (iii) economic security; and (iv) access to clean water, clean air, healthy and affordable food, and nature." :"Providing resources, training, and high-quality education, including higher education, to all people of the United States." :"Meeting 100 percent of the power demand in the United States through clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources." :"Repairing and upgrading the infrastructure in the United States, including . . . by eliminating pollution and greenhouse gas emissions as much as technologically feasible." :"Building or upgrading to energy-efficient, distributed, and 'smart' power grids, and working to ensure affordable access to electricity." :"Upgrading all existing buildings in the United States and building new buildings to achieve maximal energy efficiency, water efficiency, safety, affordability, comfort, and durability, including through electrification." :"Overhauling transportation systems in the United States to eliminate pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector as much as is technologically feasible, including through investment in – (i) zero-emission vehicle infrastructure and manufacturing; (ii) clean, affordable, and accessible public transportation; and (iii) high-speed rail." :"Spurring massive growth in clean manufacturing in the United States and removing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from manufacturing and industry as much as is technologically feasible." :"Working collaboratively with farmers and ranchers in the United States to eliminate pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector as much as is technologically feasible."
House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis Various perspectives emerged in late 2018 as to whether to form a committee dedicated to climate, what powers such a committee might be granted, and whether the committee would be specifically tasked with developing a Green New Deal. Incoming House committee chairs
Frank Pallone and
Peter DeFazio indicated a preference for handling these matters in the
House Energy and Commerce Committee and the
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Congressman Pallone has committed to the development of renewable fuel storage and “more federal funding to help offset the lack of investment from the private sector in electricity storage research, development, and demonstration” and the need to develop a “federal energy storage roadmap, similar to those established by some states, in order to increase coordination among the various private initiatives, the national labs, and other federal agencies.” In contrast, Representative
Ro Khanna thought that creating a Select Committee specifically dedicated to a Green New Deal would be a "very commonsense idea", based on the recent example of the
Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming (2007–2011), which had proven effective in developing a
2009 bill for cap-and-trade legislation. Representative
Kathy Castor of Florida was appointed to chair the committee.
January 2019 letter to Congress from environmental groups On January 10, 2019, a letter signed by 626 organizations in support of a Green New Deal was sent to all members of Congress. It called for measures such as "an expansion of the
Clean Air Act; a ban on
crude oil exports; an end to
fossil fuel subsidies and fossil fuel leasing; and a phase-out of all gasoline-powered vehicles by 2040." The letter also indicated that signatories would "vigorously oppose ... market-based mechanisms and technology options such as
carbon and emissions trading and
offsets,
carbon capture and storage,
nuclear power,
waste-to-energy and
biomass energy." An article in
The Atlantic quoted Greg Carlock, who prepared "a different Green New Deal plan for the left-wing think tank Data for Progress" as responding, "There is no scenario produced by the IPCC or the UN where we hit mid-century
decarbonization without some kind of carbon capture." A report in
Axios suggested that the letter's omission of a
carbon tax, which has been supported by moderate Republicans, did not mean that signatories would oppose carbon pricing. The Director of the Center for Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy at
George Mason University was quoted as saying, "As long as organizations hold onto a rigid set of ideas about what the solution is, it's going to be hard to make progress ... And that's what worries me." Many members of the Green party have also attacked the plan due to its cutting of multiple parts of their plan, such as the elimination of nuclear power and jobs guarantee, and the changing of the goal from a one hundred percent clean, renewable energy economy by 2030 to the elimination of the U.S. carbon footprint by 2030. When Senator
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) was confronted by youth associated with the
Sunrise Movement on why she does not support the Green New Deal, she told them "there's no way to pay for it" and that it could not pass a Republican-controlled Senate. In a tweet following the confrontation, Feinstein said that she remains committed "to enact real, meaningful climate change legislation." According to
Bloomberg Businessweek, Wall Street is willing to invest significant resources toward GND programs, but not unless Congress commits to moving it forward. The
AFL–CIO, in a letter to Ocasio-Cortez, expressed strong reservations about the GND, saying, "We welcome the call for labor rights and dialogue with labor, but the Green New Deal resolution is far too short on specific solutions that speak to the jobs of our members and the critical sections of our economy." In an op-ed for
Slate, Alex Baca criticizes the Green New Deal for failing to address the environmental, economic, and social consequences of
urban sprawl. Adam Millsap criticizes the GND's overreliance on public transit to make cities more environmentally friendly, since public transit integrates better in monocentric cities than in polycentric ones. He suggests
land use reforms to increase
density,
congestion pricing, and eliminating
parking requirements as measures that can be applied more flexibly to cities with monocentric and polycentric layouts. Although the Green New Deal is often presented as a left-wing proposal, criticism of it has come from left-wing commentators who have argued that the Green New Deal fails to tackle the real cause of the climate emergency, namely the concept of unending growth and consumption inherent in
capitalism, and is instead an attempt to
greenwash capitalism. Left wing critics of the Green New Deal argue that it is not the
monetization of Green policies and practices within capitalism that are necessary, but an anti-capitalist adoption of policies for
de-growth. Similar criticisms, particularly held by indigenous communities, have been expressed in terms of the potential for “green colonialism” under the Green New Deal. The negative repercussions of the development and promotion of clean technology to reduce carbon emissions will particularly affect Global South nations, perpetuating ideals of colonial dispossession in the name of decarbonization. Rather than addressing the underlying systemic roots of environmental degradation and climate change, these communities argue that the prioritization of the development of clean technology may restructure the problem and inflict environmental burden on other global nations. Indigenous concern regarding the Green New Deal’s potential to further “Eurocentric and techno optimistic character of mainstream green capitalism”
On Fire is a collection of essays focusing on climate change and the urgent actions needed to preserve the planet. Klein relates her meeting with
Greta Thunberg in the opening essay in which she discusses the entrance of young people into those speaking out for climate awareness and change. She supports the Green New Deal throughout the book and in the final essay she discusses the 2020 U.S. election saying "The stakes of the election are almost unbearably high. It's why I wrote the book and decided to put it out now and why I'll be doing whatever I can to help push people toward supporting a candidate with the most ambitious Green New Deal platform—so that they win the primaries and then the general."
Former vice presidents •
Al Gore Individuals •
Mike Gravel, former US Senator from Alaska and candidate in the
2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries •
Howie Hawkins, Green party co-founder and first American political candidate to run on the promise of a Green New Deal •
Bill Maher, comedian, political commentator, and television host •
Jill Stein, former Green party presidential candidate in
2012 and
2016 •
Joseph Stiglitz,
Nobel laureate in economics, professor at
Columbia University, and chief economist of the
Roosevelt Institute. •
Bria Vinaite recorded a "Green New Deal" video for Vogue Magazine in 2018 •
Marianne Williamson, candidate in the
2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries •
Andrew Yang, candidate in the
2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries Senators •
Richard Blumenthal US Senator from Connecticut •
Cory Booker, US Senator from New Jersey •
Kirsten Gillibrand, US Senator from New York •
Martin Heinrich, US Senator from New Mexico •
Mazie Hirono, US Senator from Hawaii •
Amy Klobuchar, US Senator from Minnesota •
Ed Markey, US Senator from Massachusetts •
Jeff Merkley, US Senator from Oregon •
Bernie Sanders, US Senator from Vermont, Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee •
Tom Udall, US Senator from New Mexico •
Chris Van Hollen, US Senator from Maryland •
Elizabeth Warren, US Senator from Massachusetts •
Ron Wyden, US Senator from Oregon
Representatives •
Karen Bass, US Representative from California's 37th congressional district. •
Earl Blumenauer, US Representative from Oregon's 3rd congressional district. •
Suzanne Bonamici, US Representative from Oregon's 1st congressional district. •
Salud Carbajal, US Representative from California's 24th congressional district. •
David Cicilline, US Representative from Rhode Island's 1st congressional district. •
Katherine Clark, Vice Chair of the House Democratic Caucus and US Representative from Massachusetts's 5th congressional district. •
Bonnie Watson Coleman, US Representative from New Jersey's 12th congressional district. •
Gerry Connolly, US Representative from Virginia's 11th congressional district. •
Susan Davis, US Representative from California's 53rd congressional district. •
Peter DeFazio, Chair of the House Transportation Committee and US Representative from Oregon's 4th congressional district. •
Rosa DeLauro, US Representative from Connecticut's 3rd congressional district. •
Lloyd Doggett, US Representative from Texas 35th congressional district. •
Eliot Engel, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and US Representative from New York's 16th congressional district. •
Veronica Escobar, US Representative from Texas 16th congressional district. •
Anna Eshoo, US Representative from California's 18th congressional district. •
Adriano Espaillat, US Representative from New York's 13th congressional district. •
John Garamendi, US Representative from California's 3rd congressional district. •
Jesús "Chuy" García, US Representative from Illinois's 4th congressional district. •
Dan Goldman, US Representative from New York's 10th congressional district. •
Jimmy Gomez, US Representative from California's 34th congressional district. •
Raúl Grijalva, Chair of the House Natural Resources Committee and US Representative from Arizona's 3rd congressional district. •
Deb Haaland, US Representative from New Mexico's 1st congressional district. •
Jahana Hayes, US Representative from Connecticut's 5th congressional district. •
Jared Huffman, US Representative from California's 2nd congressional district. •
Pramila Jayapal, US Representative from Washington's 7th congressional district. •
Bill Keating (politician), US Representative from Massachusetts's 9th congressional district. •
Joe Kennedy III, US Representative from Massachusetts's 4th congressional district and 2020 US Senate candidate. •
Ro Khanna, US Representative from California's 17th congressional district. •
John Larson, US Representative from Connecticut's 1st congressional district. •
Barbara Lee, US Representative from California's 13th congressional district. •
Andy Levin, US Representative from Michigan's 9th congressional district. •
Mike Levin, US Representative from California's 49th congressional district. •
Nita Lowey, Chair of the House Appropriations Committee and US Representative from New York's 17th congressional district. •
Ben Ray Luján, Assistant Speaker of the US Representative from New Mexico's 1st congressional district and 2020 candidate for US Senate. •
Carolyn Maloney, US Representative from New York's 12th congressional district. •
Sean Patrick Maloney, US Representative from New York's 18th congressional district. •
Betty McCollum, US Representative from Minnesota's 4th congressional district. •
James McGovern, Chair of the House Rules Committee and US Representative from Massachusetts's 2nd congressional district. •
Seth Moulton, US Representative from Massachusetts' 6th congressional district and former 2020 Presidential candidate. •
Grace Napolitano, US Representative from California's 32nd congressional district. •
Joe Neguse, US Representative from Colorado's 2nd congressional district. •
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, US Representative from New York's 14th congressional district. •
Beto O'Rourke, former US Representative From Texas 16th congressional district, 2018 US Senate Nominee in Texas. •
Bill Pascrell, US Representative from New Jersey's 9th congressional district. •
Chellie Pingree, US Representative from Maine's 1st congressional district. •
Mark Pocan, Co-Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and US Representative from Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district. •
Mike Quigley, US Representative from Illinois's 5th congressional district. •
Jamie Raskin, US Representative from Maryland 8th congressional district. •
Dutch Ruppersberger, US Representative from Maryland's 2nd congressional district. •
Gregorio Sablan, Delegate to the US House of Representatives from the Northern Mariana Islands' at-large district. •
John Sarbanes, US Representative from Maryland's 3rd congressional district. •
Janice Schakowsky, US Representative from Illinois 9th congressional district. •
Bobby Scott (politician), Chair of the House Education and Labor Committee and US Representative from Virginia's 3rd congressional district. •
Brad Sherman, US Representative from California's 30th congressional district. •
Adam Smith, Chair of the House Armed Services Committee and US Representative from Washington's 9th congressional district. •
Thomas Suozzi, US Representative from New York's 3rd congressional district. •
Mike Thompson, US Representative from California's 5th congressional district. •
Rashida Tlaib, US Representative from Michigan's 13th congressional district. •
Lori Trahan, US Representative from Massachusetts's 3rd congressional district. •
Juan Vargas, US Representative from California's 51st congressional district. •
Peter Welch, US Representative from Vermont At Large.
Governors •
Andrew Cuomo, while he was Governor of New York. •
Jay Inslee, Governor of Washington •
Michelle Lujan Grisham, Governor of New Mexico. •
Janet Mills, Governor of Maine.
Mayors •
Bill De Blasio, Mayor of New York City and former 2020 Presidential candidate •
Wayne Messam, Mayor of Miramar, Florida •
Michelle Wu, Mayor of
Boston see
Boston Green New Deal •
Eric Garcetti, former Mayor of Los Angeles see
Los Angeles Green New Deal Organizations •
The Climate Mobilization, which advocates a "World War II-scale economic mobilization to restore a safe climate." • The
Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DieM25), a pan-European political activist group of over 100.000 members for progressive
EU and global economics policy, founded by
Yanis Varoufakis • The
European Green Party and
The Greens–European Free Alliance campaigned on the Green New Deal in the
2009 European Parliament election and maintain an ongoing European "Green New Deal" campaign • The
Global Greens support a Global Green New Deal. •
Green Party of the United States has endorsed the Green New Deal in its party platform. • The
Heinrich Böll Foundation published proposals for a Green New Deal in Germany, the European Union, as well as North America, Israel, and Ukraine. • The
League of Conservation Voters is an American advocacy group for environmental issues • The
New Economics Foundation and The Green New Deal Group (United Kingdom) •
openDemocracy •
Sierra Club Living Economy Program • The
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, who developed the Low Carbon Green Growth Roadmap for Asia and the Pacific • The
United Nations Environment Programme launched a Green Economy Initiative known as the "Global Green New Deal". • The
Global Marshall Plan Initiative advocates for a sustainable global economy
Detractors Individuals • On February 9, 2019, United States President
Donald Trump voiced his opposition using sarcasm via
Twitter as follows: "I think it is very important for the Democrats to press forward with their Green New Deal. It would be great for the so-called "Carbon Footprint" to permanently eliminate all Planes, Cars, Cows, Oil, Gas & the Military – even if no other country would do the same. Brilliant!" • Democratic Senator
Dianne Feinstein objected to the plan saying "there's no way to pay for it" and is drafting her own narrowed down version. Democratic Senator
Joe Manchin criticized the plan as a "dream" adding that 'it would hurt regions dependent on reliable, affordable energy." • Republican White House aide
Sebastian Gorka has referred to the deal as "what Stalin dreamed about but never achieved" and that "they [proponents of the deal] want to take your pickup truck. They want to rebuild your home. They want to take away your hamburgers." The comments about hamburgers are a common criticism of the deal by conservatives, who have gone on to criticize Representative Ocasio-Cortez for allowing her chief of staff to eat a hamburger with her at a Washington restaurant. • On February 13, 2019, Rep.
Mark Walker (R-NC) released a
parody video on his verified Twitter account comparing the Green New Deal to the failed
Fyre Festival, using the hashtag #GNDisFyre. • On March 14, 2019, Rep.
Rob Bishop, a Republican representing
Utah's 1st congressional district, said that the legislation was "tantamount to
genocide," adding shortly afterward that his comment was "maybe an overstatement, but not by a lot." • During a
Fox Business interview on August 13, 2020, President Donald Trump again voiced his opposition, declaring that adopting the Green New Deal would result in demolishing the
Empire State Building and abolishing all animals.
Legislative outcome On March 26, in what Democrats called a "stunt," Republicans called for an early vote on the resolution without allowing discussion or expert testimony. In protest, 42 Democrats and
one Independent who
caucuses with Democrats voted "present" resulting in a 57–0 defeat on the Senate floor. Three Democrats and
one Independent who caucuses with Democrats voted against the bill, while the other votes were along party lines.
2020 presidential campaign Howie Hawkins, the
Green Party's 2020 presidential candidate, ran on a Green New Deal platform calling for the U.S. to reach zero greenhouse emissions and 100% clean energy by 2030. The joint policy proposals developed by the Biden and Sanders campaigns, which were released on July 8, 2020, do not include a Green New Deal.
The Biden climate plan In 2021, commentators noted that early climate-related executive actions by
President Biden, such as re-joining the
Paris Agreement, have much in common with the 2019 GND proposed by Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Markey. According to Mike Krancer, while he sees the
Biden Plan For A Clean Energy Revolution And Environmental Justice and the 2019 proposal as very similar, a key difference is that the Biden plan includes a prominent role for
carbon capture and storage technology. has been criticized by progressives, including Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, as not being ambitious enough to achieve the scale required to mitigate climate change. Biden's climate plan is incorporated in his
American Jobs Plan and
American Families Plan, which would in part lead to the creation of a Civilian Climate Corps modeled after the
Civilian Conservation Corps. In August 2022, President Joe Biden signed into law the
Inflation Reduction Act, which contains the largest climate investment by the U.S. federal government in history.
2021 reintroduction On April 20, 2021, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, Sen. Markey and fellow
Democratic lawmakers reintroduced the Green New Deal Resolution at the
National Mall. The resolution reaffirms the threat produced by climate change and the responsibility of the US to recommit to meeting the emission goals outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
The Red Deal In April 2021,
The Red Nation Indigenous advocacy group released the
Red Deal. The Red Deal is a proposal designed to supplement the Green New Deal, and incorporates a range of anti-capitalism and Indigenous decolonisation proposals designed to halt climate change. The framework of the Red Deal relies on an understanding of climate change as intrinsically connected to colonization and capitalist economics. According to the Red Deal, an American history of imperialism and industrial development has led to an excessive and destructive reliance on the Earth’s natural resources which must be countered by reevaluating these systems and their modern implications. The Red Deal operates under an anti-capitalist framework, addressing root causes of environmental injustice and other interrelated areas such as prison abolition, demilitarization, Indigenous treaty rights, land restoration, sovereignty, self-determination, decolonization, and liberation. These areas of focus criticize extractive processes and violence that limit the sovereignty of Indigenous peoples and marginalized communities. Framers of the Red Deal call for revolutionary resistance that involves caretaking and responsibility of human and non-human relations. It involves a collaborative effort, addressing various communities such as indigenous and nonindigenous people, activists, scholars, and those seeking to develop an understanding of anticolonial and anticapitalistic environmentalism. This framework extends the vision of the Green New Deal by centering indigenous movements against capitalism and colonialism as crucial to the mission of the Green New Deal. In December 2019, Elizabeth Warren announced her plan for a Blue New Deal after Bren Smith brought the idea to her attention at a panel. The Blue New Deal has a loose network of policy proposals, including re-greening coastlines, investing in wind and wave energy technologies, expanding sustainable ocean farming, restoring marine ecosystems, investing in marine carbon sequestration, ending offshore drilling, cleaning up ocean trash, pre- and post-disaster mitigation, and flood insurance reform.
The Inflation Reduction Act and "Unleashing American Energy" In August 2022, Congress adopted the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in order to invest in energy security, clean energy, and affordable healthcare. According to Guri Bang of Norwegian University of Life Sciences, the IRA is structured to utilize economic incentives rather than the implementation of regulatory policies in order to combine economic and climate related policies. The IRA allocates $369 billion in public spending for over 50 programs aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 40% from 2005 levels by 2030 in the US. The IRA contributes significantly to the Green New Deal through federal funding, providing access to resources such as decarbonization and workforce development to local governments, indigenous communities, etc. Supporters of the IRA argue that this legislation is substantial in serving as a foundation for the long-term implementation of the Green New Deal. However, on January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14154, "Unleashing American Energy" which includes the revocation of the Inflation Reduction Act and the Green New Deal in sections 4 and 7. There is current uncertainty as to how this will be implemented, how this will impact the funding of clean energy initiatives such as the Green New Deal, and the implications of this Executive Order on the renewable energy sector. The administration has publicly denounced efforts related to environmental justice investments and decarbonization due to an increasing push for domestic energy expansion, limiting the implementation of efforts under the Green New Deal. The expansion of domestic fossil fuel development and rollbacks of environmental protections contradict the efforts of the Green New Deal. There is uncertainty regarding the practical implementation of “Unleashing American Energy,” especially in terms of the consequences this may have on the Green New Deal and related policy proposals. ==International==