U.S. lawmakers make green infrastructure push, FedEx CEO to testify

WASHINGTON – Frederick Smith, FedEx Chief Executive will testify before Congress on Wednesday as U.S. lawmakers begin a push for a huge hike in infrastructure spending and push toward electric vehicles, congressional aides said.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will hear the previously unreported testimony under the title “The Business Case for Climate Solutions” and is also expected to include testimony from electric utility PG&E Corp.

In an interview, Representative Peter DeFazio, a Democrat who chairs the panel said a massive infrastructure bill will create millions of new jobs and reduce carbon emissions.

“We’re trying to make the business case everybody else is going to go electric you don’t have to believe in climate change,” DeFazio said.

Last week, FedEx said it aims to become carbon-neutral by 2040 and will invest $2 billion in   vehicle electrification, sustainable energy, and carbon sequestration. It also announced that its entire parcel pickup and delivery fleet will be zero-emission electric vehicles by 2040.

In 2019, Amazon.com vowed to make the largest U.S. e-commerce company net carbon-neutral by 2040 and to buy tens of thousands of electric delivery vans. Several automakers and start-up companies are working to develop electric-vehicle pickups and larger delivery vehicles.

Aides said that with a focus on surface transportation, the lawmakers will look at private-sector actions addressing climate change.

Last week, DeFazio had a meeting with Democratic President Joe Biden and House lawmakers. DeFazio said, in the meeting, Biden made the business case for electric vehicles or EVs and raised General Motors Co’s goal of ending production of gasoline-powered passenger vehicles by 2035.

DeFazio said, “(Biden) talked about the Chinese eating our lunch, the Chinese want to dominate the electric auto market.” Biden told lawmakers “We can’t let that happen,” DeFazio added.

Biden’s “tentative timeline” is to have an infrastructure bill approved by his committee in May. “It is going to be green and it is going to be big,” he said.