NBC News reports:

When Hillary Clinton proposed a climate plan in the run-up to the 2016 election that included $60 billion for clean energy infrastructure and $30 billion more to redevelop coal-mining communities, it was met with mixed reviews: an “ambitious” plan but one with “holes.”

The plan proposed some of the largest investments in clean energy tech put forward by a major presidential candidate, a sign of how far the topic of climate change had come in politics but, for activists, also a sign of how far was left to go.

Last week, almost exactly five years later, Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, released a $2 trillion plan that climate activists say could create the kind of change necessary to avert the more catastrophic consequences of climate change.

“We’re talking about major investments in every corner of the country and every ZIP code,” said Steve Capanna, the director of U.S. climate policy and analysis at the Environmental Defense Fund, a New York-based advocacy group. “That’s a great way to put people of diverse income levels and diverse skill sets back to work in a way that will be rebuilding better than just going back to the way things were before.”

Biden’s plan spans four years and includes some lofty goals — including achieving a 100 percent clean electricity standard by 2035. [Continue reading…]