Weaning US off fossil fuel use ‘to cost $4.7 trillion’

Eliminating fossil fuels from the US power sector, a key goal of the “Green New Deal” backed by many Democratic presidential candidates, would cost $4.7 trillion and pose massive economic and social challenges, according to a report released by energy research firm Wood Mackenzie.

That would amount to $35,000 per household, or nearly $2,000 a year for a 20-year plan, according to the study, which called the price tag for such a project “staggering.” The report is one of the first independent cost estimates for what has become a key issue in the 2020 US presidential election, with most Democrats proposing multi-trillion-dollar plans to eliminate US carbon emissions economy-wide.