The Debate: Net-Zero by 2050: How Should We Achieve a Carbon-Free U.S. Economy?

President Biden has called for the United States to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, with interim targets of 50-52 percent reduction by 2030 and an entirely carbon-free power sector by 2035.

Just two years prior, ELI Press published Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in the United States, a compendium of over a thousand legal options for the United States to rapidly reduce emissions. This “legal playbook” outlines many of the actions needed to achieve the president’s ambitious climate action goals.

All but eliminating the use of fossil fuels will require transitioning the nation’s vehicle fleets from internal combustion engines to electric motors; heating buildings with electricity rather than oil or gas; slashing industrial emissions; and eliminating the use of coal and perhaps natural gas to generate electricity. The demand for electricity would soar while most existing supplies would be cut. Biden wants to achieve this transformation in the context of racial equity and good-paying union jobs. This is a huge undertaking, requiring excellent governance going forward.

While Legal Pathways serves as a useful starting point for discussions on achieving net-zero emissions, by no means is it exhaustive. We invite back one of the book’s editors, Michael Gerrard, along with three other expert commentators, to weigh in on Biden’s goals.

We are asking these experts, What policy mix would be the best at achieving the administration’s many and diverse goals? What tools do we have at hand? What tools do we need to create — and how?

Many policies have been proposed — carbon taxes, cap and trade, technology or performance standards, research and development, carbon capture and sequestration, public works programs, planting forests. There are no doubt other approaches as well. Which make sense in the quest to efficiently and equitably reach a zero-carbon future and achieve the president’s other climate change goals?