Bill Clinton's Green Jobs Plan

Forbes : March 04 2010

by Jonathan Fahey

Former President Bill Clinton told a collection of green business executives at a lunchtime speech today that in order to get some momentum behind changing the nation’s energy portfolio, business leaders need to prove to elected officials and voters that going green will create jobs and improve the economy.  “Defend the science, but argue the economics,” he said. “It’s up to you to prove the economics.”

Clinton was speaking at a lunchtime meeting in New York organized by the Irish renewable energy firm NTR. Clinton argued that countries that signed the Kyoto Protocol and met its targets, including Germany, Denmark, the United Kingdom and Sweden, performed better than the United States in the decade leading up to the financial crisis. (Kyoto, remember, was the accord that was voted down unanimously by the Senate while Clinton was president. “That was the last time they were united on anything,” he joked.)

He also offered his own green jobs plan. He thinks the government should set aside $15 billion to fund a $150 billion loan guarantee program that would help owners of big buildings make their buildings more energy efficient. Firms like Johnson Controls and Honeywell would help make the buildings more efficient and guarantee results. Owners would pay for the improvements, backed by government loans, through the energy savings achieved. Clinton estimates for every $1 billion loaned, 7,000 jobs would be created. Loan out $150 billion, and create 1 million jobs. The Clinton Foundation’s Clinton Climate Initiative is helping to retrofit the Empire State Building now.