The Inflation Reduction Act and its subsidies have spurred the creation of more than 100,000 clean energy jobs across the U.S.
That's the word from a new report from the climate advocacy group, Climate Power.
Amounting to nearly 17,000 new jobs added in the renewable energy, energy storage, hydrogen, and the "clean tech" sector every month.
In all, clean energy and sustainability-focused companies have announced 101,036 new jobs in 31 states between August 16, 2022 (a little over a week after the IRA passed in the Senate) and January 31, 2023, according to the Climate Power Report.
“The economic boom is starting, and it’s starting because of clean energy and the investments made in the Inflation Reduction Act,” said Lori Lodes, Climate Power’s executive director and co-founder told Bloomberg News. “This really is just the beginning.”
So far, the organization is tracking over 90 new clean energy projects in small towns and bigger cities nationwide totaling $89.5 billion in new investments, the report indicated.
The figure includes roughly 40 new battery manufacturing sites in places like Van Buren Township, Michigan; Tucson, Arizona; and Florence County, South Carolina.
Another 22 companies have announced plans for new or bigger electric vehicle manufacturing in Pryor, Oklahoma; Montgomery, Alabama; Highland Park, Michigan—and more.
Most of the clean energy and sustainable corporate initiatives are coming in 7 states—Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.
Founded in 2020 by Lodes and John Podesta, a former advisor to Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama (who now serves in the Biden White House), Climate Power aims to change the narrative around the clean energy transition by focusing on its positive economic impacts.
Based on the numbers that the group is reporting, that economic impact is already significant. The Inflation Reduction Act hoped to cut the country's greenhouse gas emissions 40% from 2005 levels. In all some $370 billion is earmarked in the law alone in the form of tax credits and incentives to develop sustainable industries.
Research from the BlueGreen Alliance and the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst actually estimates that the IRA will create over 9 million jobs in the next 10 years.
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