President-elect Joe Biden has promised U.S. voters a radically different energy policy compared with sitting President Donald Trump, one focused on boosting renewables to address the threat of climate change.
The president-elect will enter the White House with a goal of setting the United States on course for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and will recommit the country to the Paris climate agreement. But there is a good chance the Republicans will retain control of the Senate, limiting how much of the Biden agenda can actually be delivered.
With the federal government constrained, state policies will continue to be important, according to Ed Crooks, vice chairman for the Americas at Wood Mackenzie. The key influences shaping the U.S. energy industry are likely to be market forces, just as they were under Barack Obama and Donald Trump, he says, but the change of federal government will have some significant consequences, Crooks says, including some of the fol