Washington, D.C. — The Build Back Better Act includes transformational climate investments that will push the United States toward an equitable and just 100 percent clean energy economy, according to a new column from the Center for American Progress.
The column outlines nine ways that the $1.75 trillion package would deliver on climate, justice, and jobs as the single greatest federal legislative action to combat climate change to date:
- Targeted investments in low-income and disadvantaged communities will address long-standing environmental injustices
- Labor standards will help ensure high-quality union jobs
- Clean electricity tax credits will position the United States to achieve a fully decarbonized power grid by 2035, in line with science-based targets
- A transmission investment tax credit will help U.S. power grid upgrades necessary to scale renewable energy deployment
- Point-of-sale tax credits for new and used electric vehicles will usher in a new era of clean transportation
- Investments in manufacturing and hard-to-decarbonize industries will onshore the clean energy supply chains of the future
- Expanded energy efficiency and building electrification programs will lower energy bills and deliver additional emissions reductions
- Funding for agriculture, forests, and coasts will conserve and restore the country’s natural carbon sinks, and reforms will make polluters pay their fair share
- Climate and conservation investments in rural areas will transform and empower rural communities
Read the column: “Congress Must Pass the Build Back Better Act to Combat Climate Change” by Elise Gout, Bianca Majumder, Mikyla Reta, Ryan Richards, Mike Williams, Shannon Baker-Branstetter, and Trevor Higgins
For more information on this topic or to speak with an expert, please contact Sam Hananel at [email protected]