Coal is dead in the ground, except for India and China, and even there, they’re long past the peak. Now oil stocks are tumbling, as electric vehicles soar, and solar is as cheap as chips.
It’s all thanks to US President Biden’s staunch support for #BuildBackBetter, a global movement which sought to capitalize on the fact that vast amounts of urban infrastructure needed to be replaced in the ‘Roaring 20s’. That and the fact that the pandemic years opened our eyes to the worst parts of unsustainable capitalism, like gas guzzlers and conspicuous consumption.
“We’ve been handed a once-in-a-lifetime chance,” said Biden, shortly after he took office in 2021. “We can rebuild our broken cities, damaged highways and desolate airports. Freed from the shackles of old ideas and false hopes, we can build again, only better!”
Careful to maintain support with moderates on both sides of the aisle, the new president didn’t issue a slew of executive orders, but pushed through subsidies and tax breaks to catapult new energy companies like Tesla and Plug Power into market dominance. Now solar and hydrogen stocks are getting all the new investment, and oil counters are crashing.
It’s a global phenomenon. Oil-rich Abu Dhabi and gas-rich Qatar are both targeting blue hydrogen as an export fuel, and Australia is tapping their massive solar resources to produce green hydrogen for export, from seawater. Right on their doorstep, Korea and Japan are big customers.
After the bleak, black years of Trumpism, it’s also a chance for America to shine on the global stage, and win back some of the international respect that was lost. Follow the money: Green is the new black, and Biden is the new champion of #BuildBackBetter.
