Biden’s next climate hurdle: enticing Americans to buy green

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden persuaded Democrats in Congress to provide hundreds of billions of dollars to fight climate change. Now comes another formidable task:

enticing Americans to buy millions of electric cars, heat pumps, solar panels and more efficient appliances. It’s a public relations challenge that could determine whether

the country meets Biden’s ambitious goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030. Relying on tax credits and rebates made the climate legislation — it was approved

in August with only Democratic votes — more politically palatable than regulations that force wholesale changes in polluting industries. But it also means the

administration’s battle against global warming will be waged “one household at a time,” said Shannon Baker-Branstetter, who works on energy issues at the Center for American

Progress, a liberal think tank closely aligned with the White House. “It is very incremental," she said. "So it requires a very sophisticated communications

strategy.” Biden acknowledged the hurdle during a recent Cabinet meeting as he talked about the incentives that are becoming available this year. "Folks need to know

how to take advantage of these benefits that we passed. That’s on all of us around the table here to make sure we get that message out clearly,” he said. The White House

says it is piecing together a plan to partner with state governments, contractors, retailers and social media influencers to get the word out. “Lowering utility bills is going to

be a key driver,” said Josh Peck, a senior policy adviser on clean energy issues.