PRESS RELEASE: NEW REPORT: WE NEED TO INVEST IN CLEAN ENERGY TO SAVE THE ECONOMY AND OUR QUALITY OF LIFE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 22, 2021
Contact:
Maddy McDaniel, Communications Director
[email protected] or 914-471-7716
NEW REPORT: WE NEED TO INVEST IN CLEAN ENERGY TO SAVE THE ECONOMY AND OUR QUALITY OF LIFE
Report Comes as President Biden Hosts Two-Day Leaders Summit on Climate
WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Invest in America released a new research report highlighting how investments like the American Jobs Plan will create jobs and shore up the country against the threat of climate change. The report comes as President Biden is hosting the Leaders Summit on Climate, underscoring the urgency of immediate climate action.
Read the report here.
We Need to Invest in Clean Energy to Save the Economy and Our Quality of Life
“Without adaptation, climate change will continue to degrade infrastructure performance over the rest of the century, with the potential for cascading impacts that threaten our economy, national security, essential services, and health and well-being.”
—U.S. Global Change Research Program
As the threat of climate change rises, the failure to invest in our clean energy infrastructure has devastating costs to the U.S. economy and quality of life.
- Economic damage from the climate crisis is projected to reach $1.7 trillion per year by 2035, and roughly $30 trillion annually by 2075.
- According to the Institute for Policy Integrity, 74% of economists agree that ”immediate and drastic action is necessary” to confront climate change.
- In the last four years, 60 extreme weather or climate-related disasters have caused more than 3,700 deaths and $500 billion in damages. In 2020 alone, the U.S. saw 22 climate disaster events with losses exceeding $1 billion each.
- Oil and gas companies have abandoned 3.2 million oil and gas wells across the country that leak over 600 pounds of toxic pollutants into the air and water every year.
- Every day, 50 million gallons of polluted water loaded with toxic metals like arsenic and lead pours into our rivers from abandoned mine sites.
- Power outages cost the U.S. economy $70 billion annually.
- The vulnerabilities of our aging electricity grid caused the death of more than 80 people during the recent electricity crisis in Texas that left 4.5 million people without power.
- If significant steps are not taken to rein in climate change, the damage will knock as much as 10% of the size of the economy.
- Clean energy is the fastest growing industry in America — before the pandemic, clean energy jobs employed three times as many workers as the fossil fuel industry.
- The American Jobs Plan would set the country on a path of achieving net-zero emissions economy wide by 2050, according to S&P Global.
- Tax credits in the American Jobs Plan would cut air pollution by up to 84% in just five years, and cut carbon dioxide to 76% below 2005 levels in ten years.
- According to the Center for American Progress, President Biden’s plans would reduce annual carbon dioxide by an estimated 626 million metric tons while also reducing average electricity bills. CNBC reported that upgrading to more resilient electric grids would prevent widespread blackouts like the recent blackouts in Texas.
- The tax credits in the American Jobs Plan would drive a 50% increase in renewable energy development.
- The American Jobs Plan’s investments in cleaning up the nation’s electricity standard and industrial sector would target between 70-80% of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions.
- By itself, the American Jobs Plan’s power sector investments could double the share of clean electricity generation after 10 years.
“We need to do this or we’re never going to be able to hit decarbonization plans,”