WASHINGTON (ALETIHAD)
US President Joe Biden has announced the American Climate Corps initiative that will train young people and prepare them for jobs in the clean energy economy.
The programme is aimed at educating 20,000 young people on clean energy, environmental protection, and climate resilience in a span of a year.
Upon completing the programme participation, the trained people are expected to gain access to well paid jobs within the sector. The various job opportunities available to the participants will in the cities and municipalities are to be published on a website.
The Climate Corps initiative was initially proposed as part of the United State’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that passed last year, but was postponed due to the strong conservative opposition and cost-related concerns.
Biden has now invoked his executive authority to launch the initiative, after Democrats and environmental groups shared their appeals with him.
Biden is currently running for a second term in the presidential election next year, and the 80-year-old candidate is courting the support of young voters.
On the Republican side, presidential contender Ron DeSantis pledged yesterday that, if he were elected, he would slow America’s transition to electric vehicles, repeal regulations related to environmental and social and governance considerations (ESG), and dramatically ramp up domestic fossil fuel production.
In prepared comments released before a speech in the heart of oil country, Midland, Texas, the Florida governor also said that he would withdraw the US from global agreements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while increasing production of crude, gas, coal, and uranium on federal lands.
The plan represents a double down on pledges that DeSantis and most of his Republican opponents have made during the campaign trail to cast aside limits on fossil fuel production and consumption. While the Florida governor had acknowledged that human-induced climate change was real earlier in his career, he has since backed away from that position.