Obama Green Stimulus to Cut US Emissions By at Least 61m Tons

The proposed 'Green New Deal' environmental measures proposed as part of President Obama's US$800bn economic stimulus package will deliver minimum greenhouse gas emissions savings of 61 million tonnes a year – equivalent to taking 13 million cars off the road – and could result in far deeper emission cuts. That is the conclusion of a new report from climate change consultants ICF International (ICFI), commissioned by Greenpeace, which aimed to measure the impact on US carbon emissions of the president's wide-ranging green spending plans.

The report concluded that the impact of many of the proposed measures on carbon emissions were too difficult to quantify, and as a result the ultimate long-term savings arising from the plan could be far higher.

The proposed spending, which is still being debated on Capitol Hill and is expected to be passed by the Senate later this week, breaks down into 18 key areas. But while they are all expected to result in net carbon emission reductions, ICFI was only able to quantify the savings that will arise from seven proposals.

The report says that much of the estimated saving will come from building efficiency measures, calculating that plans to provide $6.9bn in grants to support local government energy efficiency schemes will cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20.1m tons a year, while proposals to invest $6.7bn in improving the efficiency of federal buildings, $6.2bn in 'home weatherisation' and $2.5bn in domestic energy efficiency efforts should cut emissions by 17.5m, eight million, and 7.28m tonnes respectively.