President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2016 Budget shows a big push for clean energy – yet another reminder that Australia is going backwards while the rest of the world surge towards more clean energy.

The new budget includes a 7% increase in government funding for clean energy as well as a new $40 billion fund to encourage states to go further than required and cut down emissions from power plants. There is also a proposal to permanently extent Investment Tax Credits (ITC) that support solar and wind turbine installations.

Any state is able to apply for the $4 billion fund. “What we will be looking for are states that will get (carbon emission) reductions earlier… or seek to go further than final guidelines require,” said Janet McCabe, acting assistant Environmental Protection Agency Administrator.

The budget also has a $500 million request for the Green Climate Fund to provide capital for poorer, third-third world countries deal with climate change.

Obama’s budget also takes minors into consideration. Although fossil fuels are not the way of the future, nothing changes the fact that miners have “helped keep the lights on in this nation for generations.” The ‘POWER Plus’ fund will provide $55 million to miners and their families for re-training and economic security. 5% million will be allocated to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Brownfields Program which rehabilitates land used or polluted by coal mines.

“Our point here is that while policymakers can disagree about the reasons why the coal industry is struggling, all Americans should be able to agree that these workers and communities, who are in some of the most economically distressed parts of the country, deserve help from the federal government,” Jason Walsh, a senior White House policy adviser told the Charleston Gazette.

An extra $38 million is said to go to the development of carbon capture and storage in an effort to make new and existing coal mines less emission intensive. However, fossil fuels have received tax breaks for decades now and President Obama is slowly pulling the plug on them resulting in an extra $50 billion for the government over the next decade.

The proposal calls for some $3.1 billion in payments to be repealed from fossil fuel projects on public land and federal waters over the next 10 years.

“Our Nation thrives when we are leading the world with cutting-edge technology in manufacturing, infrastructure, clean energy, and other growing fields,” said President Obama in his Budget message.

Click here to download the budget message and the Fiscal Year 2016 Budget.