On Tuesday afternoon, the top three Democratic members of the House Energy Committee unveiled what they called a “bold new initiative” to tackle the climate crisis. Meant as a more moderate alternative to Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal—which calls for a carbon-free economy by 2030—the new plan calls for the United States to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. It’s called the “100 by ’50” plan.

The Democrats’ new plan comes days after an oppressive heatwave covered much of the United States in 100-plus-degree temperatures, affecting 150 million people and killing six. It also comes a week after Tropical Storm Barry inundated the already-flooded Mississippi river, overtopping three river levees and causing devastating flooding in four states.

But the timing is perhaps all the plan gets right, because its ultimate goal of net-zero emissions by 2050 is neither bold nor new. Instead, it represents the very edge of what most climate scientists say is necessary to prevent catastrophic warming of the planet. And overall, the so-called plan illustrates the kind of rhetoric-without-action that has come to typify much of the Democratic mainstream’s approach to climate change in the era of Donald Trump.

Many environmental groups praised “100 by ’50.” The National Resources Defense Council said House Democrats “are setting bold goals to protect our children and grandchildren from climate catastrophe”; and the Sierra Club said in a statement that House Democrats are “taking the 100 percent clean energy progress happening in cities and states all across the country to a national scale.”

But in terms of an actual plan, there’s little to be seen. Like the Green New Deal, the “100 by ’50” plan is not legislation; the House Democrats who called Tuesday’s press conference did not do so to introduce a bill. Instead, Energy Committee Chairman Frank Pallone announced that the committee would be “starting a process” toward legislation, with the ultimate goal of releasing a climate bill sometime before the end of 2019. That process, he said, would include a series of hearings and meetings with stakeholders once Congress returned to Washington in September, following the upcoming August recess. (Tuesday’s initiative is different than the 100 by ’50 Act, a 2017 Senate bill that sought 100 percent renewable energy by 2050 through the use of carbon fees, increased carbon regulation, and renewable energy tax credits, among other things.)