Andrew Yang on Energy & Oil Democratic Presidential Challenger & Tech CEO

Decarbonize US economy by 2035

"If he comes with an ambitious template to address climate change, all of a sudden, everyone is going to follow his lead." He's floated a climate plan that would decarbonize the US economy by 2035. Waleed Shahid, the communications director for Justice Democrats, told Vox that Biden's policy slate is "the most progressive platform of any Democratic nominee in the modern history of the party."

Move subsidies from fossil fuel to wind and solar

Supports next-generation thorium reactors

Get incentives right to subsidize renewable energy

YANG: Yes. The government needs to get the incentives right, so we should provide subsidies to the renewable sector and end them for fossil fuel companies.

Stop subsidizing fossil fuel industries; support carbon tax

YANG: The big picture is, we subsidize the fossil fuel industry to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars. And so now everyone is, like, "where's the money?" We know where the money is. We put hundreds of billions into the fossil fuel industry. We're still subsidizing it to this day, and now it's time to take some of that money and channel it to the needs of the American people. We need to get with the program, wake up to the reality around us and let you know that you're not on your own. This is not a "you" problem, this is an "us" problem. And what do sophisticated, advanced societies do when it's an us problem? We put some of our collective resources to work and we solve the problems on the ground.

Q: Would you eliminate some subsidies for fossil fuel or subsidies?

YANG: I'd get rid of them all. Why would you leave any of them?

Energy companies only operate on the bottom line

YANG: We need to have a carbon tax because we need to have polluters internalize the cost of their pollution. You start at $40 a ton and then you ramp up to $100 a ton to give them time to adjust. But these companies only operate on the bottom line. You can't say do the right thing and then have all the executives get paid for making tons of money at the expense of the earth. We have to tie people's incentives to doing the r then you'll actually see their behavior change very quickly.

Q: Would you ban all fossil fuel exports from the United States?

YANG: I think we have to stop subsidizing the industry, but I don't think that includes banning exports. Because if our fossil fuel industry, which is going to be around for some period of time, is competitive and cost competitive enough to export to another country, I wouldn't stand in the way of that.

Convert to all-electric cars, via "Clunker" buy-backs

YANG: We are all going to love driving our electric cars. There will still be some legacy gas guzzlers on the road for quite some time, because this is not a country where you're going to, like, take someone's clunker away from them. But you are going to offer to buy the clunker back and help the

Nuclear needs to be on table; new reactors use thorium

Provide developing countries alternatives to fossil fuels

10 years too late on climate change, move to higher ground

"We need to do everything we can to start moving the climate in the right direction," he continued, "but we also need to start moving our people to higher ground--and the best way to do that is to put economic resources into your hands so you can protect yourself and your families."

Energy & Oil

Yang: The important number is that the U.S. was only 15% of global emissions. We like to act as if we're 100%, but even if we were to curb our emissions dramatically, the earth

US only accounts for 15% of global emissions, but take steps

A: "I don't believe that the president can put a halt to climate change, given that the United States only accounts for 15 percent of global emissions, but we can take dramatic steps to combat it."

Rejoin rest of world in Paris Climate Agreement

Yang: "Absolutely. America needs to rejoin the rest of the world in formally recognizing the threat posed by climate change and work with all nations to combat this existential crisis. The Paris Agreement doesn't go far enough to mitigate climate change, and the U.S. should be a part of the conversation on what targets are necessary and how we can get to them. Only through something like the Paris Agreement can we effectively tackle this problem. The US accounts for only about 15% of global emissions, so any solution requires other countries to make similar changes. We also need to recognize that our targets probably aren't enough to prevent some of the worst effects of climate change. We need to heavily fund research into geoengineering projects such as carbon capture in order to undo some of the damage we've already done. The U.S. should be a leader in developing this technology."

Invest heavily in carbon capture and geoengineering

As President, I will...
• Invest heavily in carbon capture and geoengineering technologies designed to reverse the damage already done to the environment through a new Global Geoengineering Institute and invite international participation.
• Invest in any idea that has the potential to reverse the damage done to the environment, for example cloud-seeding technology to increase the atmosphere's reflectivity.
• End the current tax benefits and cuts given to fossil fuel companies which give them an unwarranted competitive advantage over alternative energy sources.
• Institute a tax on emissions that will fund health care initiatives and research for respiratory diseases that are a direct result of these emissions.
• Empower and appoint an action-oriented leader of the EPA and direct the EPA to regulate carbon emissions.
• Prioritize sustainable infrastructure and urban development to take advantage of new materials and designs.

Carbon tax: internalize the cost of carbon emissions

As President, I will...
• Propose a carbon fee and dividend systems that:
• Sets an initial carbon tax of $40/ton, which would increase in regular intervals
• Use that tax to fund, after administrative fees: (50%) The Universal Basic Income; (50%) Projects that are enhancing efficiency of fossil fuels or increasing availability of renewable resources
• Create a border carbon adjustment to protect American goods that would:
• charge a fee to imports from countries that don't impose a similar carbon fee
• provide a rebate to exports to countries that don't impose a similar carbon fee

Mixed score on "350 Action's 2020 Climate Test"

• Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (NY)
• Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT)
• Sen. Elizabeth Warren (MA)

• Sen. Cory Booker (NJ)
• Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (HI)
• Gov. Jay Inslee (WA)
• Andrew Yang (CA)

• Donald Trump (NY)
• Former Rep. John Delaney (Md.)--Does not support the Green New Deal.
• Former Gov. John Hickenlooper (Colo.)--Does not support the Green New Deal.