As Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden moves to set out a concrete policy regime to counter that of President Donald Trump, the Biden campaign's "Unity Task Force" coordinated with supporters of former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has announced a slew of progressive policy aims, including a plan to begin decarbonizing the building sector.  

Under the recently published recommendations from the task force, a potential Biden administration would move to guarantee that all new buildings achieve net-zero green house gas emissions by 2030, one of the key goals of the proposed Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez-backed Green New Deal framework. 

A section of the task force recommendation document states: "We will set a bold, national goal of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions for all new buildings by 2030, on the pathway to creating a 100 percent clean building sector. Within five years, we will incentivize tens of billions of dollars in private-sector investment to retrofit four
million buildings, including helping local governments save money and cut pollution by weatherizing and upgrading energy systems in hospitals, schools, public housing, and municipal buildings."

The document continues, "Democrats will encourage states and cities to adopt energy-efficient building codes and address barriers to energy efficiency upgrades, and leverage the federal footprint to model net-zero and 100 percent clean energy building solutions."

In addition to these goals, The New York Times reports, a potential Biden administration would aim to achieve net-zero emissions for the entire American economy by 2050, a goal that includes electrifying the energy grid by 2035, the installation of 500 million solar panels by 2026, as well as the net-zero buildings goal.