FOKUS AMERIKA Almut Wieland-Karimi 1023 15 th Street NW,# 801 Washington, DC 20005 USA Tel.:+1 202 408 5444 Fax:+1 202 408 5537 fesdc@fesdc.org www.fesdc.org Nr. 4/ 2009 The Green New Deal: Energizing the U.S. Economy Tom Z. Collina und Erica Poff 1 • President Barack Obama, inspired by President Roosevelt before him, is responding to the global economic crisis by promoting job growth, but with a twist: using green energy investments, or a Green New Deal. • The green economy is the future. The first country to mass-produce cost-competitive wind turbines, solar panels and electric vehicles will dominate global markets for those technologies and reap the job-creation benefits. • Of the$787 billion stimulus, about 15%, or approximately$120 billion, is directed toward clean energy and creating“green jobs”. • The green economic recovery is an unprecedented endeavor. Will it work? Indications are yes. Green investment favors job growth since programs that reduce energy costs to the economy as a whole can lead to net employment gains. • One of the most unique- and valuable- elements of green job creation is the speed with which workers who have been most affected by the economic downturn could get back to work. When U.S. President Barack Obama took the Oath of Office on January 20, he inherited what many are calling the weakest American economy since the Great Depression. High hopes before the crash for a major push by the Obama administration to revolutionize U.S. energy and climate policy grew dim. But just like President Roosevelt before him, who used the Great Depression to usher in The New Deal, President Obama recognized that a crisis is also an opportunity. Unwilling to put his energy platform on hold until the economy improved, he instead made energy the centerpiece of his economic recovery plan. In one audacious move, President Obama launched what some are calling the“Green New Deal.” One hundred days into his new administration, President Obama has made"spending to promote renewable energy technologies that will generate jobs and an effort to shift the nation to a low­carbon economy" a key priority. 2