The Green New Deal is a non-binding resolution that proposes a path to a total clean energy transition. The resolution, proposed by House Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Edward Markey in February, 2019, is informed by two reports published in 2018 by the UN and federal scientists warning of the dire consequences of global temperature rise. While this was not exactly new, backing from Representative Ocasio-Cortez and the Sunrise Movement catapulted this ambitious solution to climate change into the political spotlight.
The GND is a non-binding resolution, so it would not become law even if approved. Rather, the goals outlined in the document are designed to be achieved over the course of a 10-year national mobilization. These 14 goals commit the U.S. to funding local climate solutions, achieving 100% renewable energy, updating infrastructure and transit, installing smart power grids, shifting to clean manufacturing and industry, supporting family farming, sustainable agriculture, and sustainable food systems, as well as generating soil carbon storage through ecosystem preservation and afforestation.
Like the social programs of Roosevelt’s wartime New Deal, which was in equal parts ambitious and successful, the Green New Deal places a priority on public programs and worker protection, especially healthcare, labor laws, environmental protections and education. However, it also takes a step further in hopes of addressing what it calls “systemic injustices” to “frontline and vulnerable communities.” This calls for involving those most impacted by climate change — indigenous people, communities of color, and rural former-industrial states — in developing local solutions and shaping the mobilization effort.
More than five years ago, the resolution faced and continues to face, a mixed reception, with overwhelming support from progressive Democrats, overwhelming rejection by the Republican Party (including a misinformation campaign), and caution from centrist Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. However, whether or not the Green New Deal ever moves forward into law, it certainly created a progressive national conversation on climate change.
When Bernie Sanders ran for President in 2020, he created a website supporting it, saying, “The climate crisis is not only the single greatest challenge facing our country; it is also our single greatest opportunity to build a more just and equitable future, but we must act immediately.”
In February, 2024, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Edward Markey produced a five-year report on its progress.
On March 21, 2024, Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez reintroduced the Green New Deal for Public Housing Act to tackle the dual crises of climate chaos and housing unaffordability by upgrading millions of federal public housing units with the purpose of creating good-paying jobs, improving public health, and reducing carbon pollution.They were joined on the legislation by 55 members in the House of Representatives and 7 senators including Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Peter Welch (D-Vt.).
Activist and author Naomi Klein’s On Fire; The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal (2019) sets out the existential emergency of the climate crisis and the necessity for the transformative, all-encompassing action proposed in the Green New Deal.
In July, 2024, Senator Edward Markey updated the Green New Deal Implementation Guide explaining how the bipartisan infrastructure law and the Inflation Reduction Act bring the Green New Deal to life."
A House bill gutting a great many IRA provisions went to the Senate in June.
