Key Takeaways:

• Senate & House proposed a bill to issue $50 billion annually in Clean Energy Victory Bonds
• Modeled off “victory bonds” that helped raise money for WWI & WWII
• Americans may purchase bonds for $25 each

As part of a wave of federal legislation aimed at reducing carbon emissions and scaling up renewable power nationwide, legislators in both the House and Senate introduced a proposal in late July calling for the U.S. Treasury Department to issue $50 billion annually in Clean Energy Victory Bonds, which Americans could buy for as little as $25 each. The bonds would provide a pathway for Americans to directly impact (and profit from) the government’s investment in clean energy generation across all technologies on the renewables spectrum at the state and federal level.

With poll after poll showing that the vast majority of Americans want the federal government to act faster and more aggressively in response to climate change, these Clean Energy Victory Bonds would help provide the means to make such response possible while giving people a financial stake in our country’s path to 100% renewables.

Clean Energy Victory Bonds harken back to an earlier, successful model of “victory bonds” that the government sold to the public during WWI and WWII. Those bonds raised billions of dollars to help finance the war efforts, and legislators say today’s bonds would do the same to meet the climate crisis.  Clean Energy Bonds could create more than 1 million jobs all while saving taxpayers in energy costs and injecting $150 billion in renewable energy infrastructure investment (all without raising taxes).

“Americans on both sides of the political divide understand the need for urgent action on the energy and environmental challenges we face,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), one of the sponsors of the bill. “Individual citizens are looking for avenues to take ownership of these efforts and this legislation provides them with an opportunity to invest within their means in an array of clean energy projects.” Todd Larsen, executive co-director of the non-profit Green America, which endorsed the measure, said, “Americans are looking for a way to be part of climate solutions, and Clean Energy Victory Bonds offer a safe investment that will support a rapid adoption of the solar, wind and battery storage technologies to create cleaner air and better jobs nationwide.”

 

What We’re Reading:  “Lawmakers propose Clean Energy Victory Bonds in fight against climate change,” published on Windpower Engineering Development