Fighting climate change is powering the U.S. economy - WFLA

Fighting climate change is powering the U.S. economy | WFLA

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — In today’s Climate Classroom, we are discussing how rising to the climate challenge is turning into a win-win for the U.S. economy, as manufacturing in climate solutions is creating hundreds of thousands of jobs, directly and indirectly, all across the nation.

We are interviewing James Turner, Professor of Environmental Studies at Wellesley in Massachusetts. He and his students keep track of the U.S. progress in its attempt to pair action to curb climate change and create a manufacturing boom, to not only create jobs, but also allow the U.S. to be a world leader in the clean energy revolution.

So far it is going well, according to Turner, whose website is tracking 400 clean energy supply chain projects, $250 billion in investments and 385,000 estimated jobs. The data updates in real time on his website The Big Green Machine.

While U.S. investment in clean energy existed before the landmark legislation passed under President Biden, it’s gotten a big boost from bills like the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal and the CHIPS and Science Act.

The IRA deals specifically with curbing climate change by increasing clean energy development. The idea is to use large federal incentives to encourage major private investment, growing manufacturing in the clean sector. In turn, the clean technology gets cheaper, it’s adopted more widely, and it helps to drive down emissions, all while giving the U.S. an edge over its overseas competition in the race to be a clean energy power.

According to Turner’s data, it seems to have worked. Investment in clean energy was 70% higher in 2023 than it was in 2021 (the year before the IRA was passed) and at this stage, more money is being invested in U.S. clean energy than in domestic U.S. oil and gas.

The boost from the IRA has added over 100,000 new jobs since 2022 and the surge in capital investment is seen below. What is notable is that much of the investment is going into battery projects in red, followed by EVs in green.

Despite cash flowing from a democratic administration, the vast majority of the federal investment – and jobs created – is going to red or swing states, as seen below.

It should be noted that the jobs and investments listed on Turner’s site are only the ones directly connected to the projects. They do not count all of the related supply chain demand or the adjacent jobs created when factories open in towns – think restaurants, housing, retail, etc…

In today’s show, Turner will help us break down how this is all playing out and if the U.S. government is achieving its goals to spur the economy while helping combat climate change.