Climate & Energy — The Largest Job Opportunity in American History
The climate window is closing — but the clean energy transition is also the largest job-creation opportunity in American history.
The two-minute version.
We're already paying $149B a year in climate disaster costs — and our policy still flips every four years.
100% clean electricity by 2035. Carbon fee-and-dividend returned monthly to every household. The largest jobs program in American history.
Millions of new jobs. Lower energy bills through the monthly dividend. A livable planet for your kids. A clean-energy economy the US actually leads.
A billion-dollar climate disaster now strikes every 10 days. The US five-year average is $149 billion per year in disaster costs — more than double the 45-year average. The LA wildfires alone caused $250–275 billion in total economic damage, the costliest wildfires in American history. Hurricanes Helene and Milton combined to cost $115+ billion in a single season.
The financial system is breaking. Florida homeowner insurance premiums are up 200% since 2019. 60 million Americans in California and Florida face a collapsing insurance market as private carriers flee. Between 2011 and 2024, 99.5% of congressional districts experienced at least one federally declared disaster, costing taxpayers $117.9 billion in relief. Climate risk is now a fiscal crisis.
Global CO₂ emissions hit a record 37.4 billion tonnes in 2024. That year was the hottest in recorded history — 1.55°C above pre-industrial levels. Under current policies, the world is on track for 2.6–3.1°C of warming. The Climate Action Tracker rates the US 'Critically Insufficient' — meaning if every country followed the US approach, warming would exceed 4°C.
Executive orders are not climate policy. Obama established the Clean Power Plan; Trump repealed it. Biden passed the IRA; Trump rolled back provisions. No binding law has ever constrained US emissions. The UK Climate Change Act, by contrast, legally binds carbon budgets with an independent scientific body and has cut emissions 54% while surviving multiple changes of government.
How the US compares.
What Americans face vs. what peer nations achieve.
| Measure | US | Peer Nation |
|---|---|---|
| Emissions vs. 1990 baseline | −20% | −54%(🇬🇧 UK (legally binding)) |
| EV market share (new sales) | ~9% | 89%(🇳🇴 Norway 2024) |
| Wind electricity share | ~9% | 59%(🇩🇰 Denmark) |
| Carbon pricing | None | €134/tonne(🇸🇪 Sweden) |
"Clean energy is already cheaper than fossil fuels. Solar has fallen 90%+ since 2010, batteries 93%. The bottleneck is not technology — it's the grid interconnection queue holding 2,600 GW of projects, and the political will to replace policy that reverses every four years with binding law."
— The Common Good Party — Climate & Energy Policy
What the CGP plan actually does
For workers, clean energy already employs 3.56 million Americans — nearly 8× the ~450,000 direct fossil fuel extraction workers. This platform invests $100 billion over 10 years specifically in fossil fuel community transition: five-year wage replacement, retraining with stipends, early retirement for older workers. Germany's successful coal transition is the model. Communities losing old industries are first in line for new ones.
For families, the carbon fee-and-dividend returns 100% of revenue as equal monthly dividends. Low-income households spend less on carbon than the average and receive the same dividend — they come out ahead. The price signal pushes industry behavior; the dividend protects household budgets. Grid modernization and clean energy investment lower utility costs long-term.
For coastal communities and farmers, climate disasters already cost $149 billion per year. Sea-level rise threatens 15 million Americans in coastal counties. Wildfire, drought, and flooding are hammering agricultural productivity. Binding carbon budgets backed by law end the cycle of inaction and escalating disaster costs. Infrastructure investment includes resilience systems for climate-vulnerable communities.
For children and the world, 2024 was 1.55°C above pre-industrial levels. Under current policies, the world is on track for 2.6–3.1°C of warming. This platform delivers 100% clean electricity by 2035 and economy-wide net-zero by 2045. $100 billion/year in international climate finance and Loss & Damage Fund support means the US leads rather than concedes the clean-energy competition.
What changes on day one
"Clean energy already employs 3.56 million Americans — nearly eight times the number of direct fossil fuel workers. This is the largest job opportunity in American history."
— CGP Climate & Energy Paper — Cover
See where every side actually stands.
Current federal law, the Democratic Party's 2024 platform, the Republican Party's 2024 platform, and our plan — side by side, sourced to the record.
Open the side-by-side comparisonThe homework other parties skip. We did it.
Sourced, cited, costed, and written to a standard that could walk into a legislative office tomorrow. 2,031 words across 9 pillars.
- NOAA — Billion-Dollar Disasters tracker ($149B/year)
- Potsdam Institute — $38T annual climate damages · 6-to-1 mitigation ROI
- CBO — 4% GDP loss under business-as-usual by 2100
- Climate Action Tracker — US profile ('Critically Insufficient')
- UK Climate Change Committee — Progress report (legally binding budgets)
- Berkeley Lab — 2,600 GW interconnection queue
- WRI — 3.56M clean energy jobs vs. 450K fossil fuel
- Oil Change International — US fossil fuel subsidies