Washington, D.C. — As the Biden administration and Congress pursue ambitious infrastructure investments that can also tackle the climate crisis, a new report from the Center for American Progress urges officials to look to the ocean as they build a clean energy future.
This report proposes agency-by-agency infrastructure and transportation policies to directly improve ocean health and mitigate the impacts of further development on the ocean and coastal environment.
“A comprehensive infrastructure package that fully incorporates ocean climate solutions would advance the administration’s desire to prioritize economic recovery, racial justice, and sustainable growth that achieves net-zero carbon emissions by midcentury,” said Miriam Goldstein, managing director for Energy and Environment Policy and director for Ocean Policy at CAP.
With appropriate investments in conservation, restoration, and infrastructure, oceans could achieve one-fifth of the reductions in greenhouse gas emissions necessary to limit the world’s temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The Biden administration plan should prioritize the restoration of coastal habitats that store carbon and benefit biodiversity and fisheries; create tens of thousands of jobs in coastal communities; and support natural infrastructure that protects coastal communities from rising sea levels and storms.
Ocean climate infrastructure investments in clean transportation and nature-based solutions can secure the nation’s long-term prosperity by paying fair wages, providing good benefits and a voice on the job, and offering American workers from all walks of life a pathway to the middle class.
The report also notes that coastal infrastructure development and regulation must center communities historically overlooked in the federal infrastructure policy process and denied access to ocean and coastal resources.
Read the report: “How Infrastructure Reform Can Prioritize Ocean Climate Action” by Rennie Meyers, Alexandra Carter, and Miriam Goldstein
For more information or to speak with an expert, please contact Sam Hananel at [email protected].