A $100 billion investment over two years by the U.S. government could create 2 million green jobs, according to a report released by environmental and labor groups yesterday.
"Green Recovery–A Program to Create Good Jobs and Start Building a Low-Carbon Economy" analyzes the potential for a two-year $100 billion green investment program.
The report, commissioned by the Center for American Progress think tank and prepared by the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, finds that investing in clean energy would create four times as many jobs as spending the same amount of money within the oil industry, and 20% more jobs than increasing spending on household consumption–the main target of the April 2008 stimulus package.
The package is illustrative of the potential for clean energy–and specifically green infrastructure investments–to create new jobs and strengthen the economy. The specific package would invest in six green infrastructure priorities: retrofitting buildings to improve energy efficiency, expanding mass transit and freight rail, constructing "smart" electrical grid transmission systems, wind power, solar power, and next-generation biofuels.
The report also shows that the vast majority of the two million clean energy jobs gained from this initial $100 billion investment would be in the same areas of employment that people already work in today, in every region and state of the country; for example: constructing wind farms creates jobs for sheet metal workers, machinists and truck drivers, among many others. Increasing the energy efficiency of buildings through retrofitting requires roofers, insulators and building inspectors. Expanding mass transit systems employs civil engineers, electricians, and dispatchers.
"From the point of view of the steelworkers union, the view is quite simple, that a energy efficient green economy creates jobs and it can create jobs in America," said Leo Gerard, international president of the United Steelworkers.
He said the US move toward wind power has already prompted the reopening of two struggling steel mills, now making steel plate for use in new windmills.
The plan calls for $50 billion to be used for for tax credits to assist private businesses and homeowners to finance both commercial and residential building retrofits, as well as investments in renewable-energy systems. An additional $46 billion in direct government spending would support public building retrofits, the expansion of mass transit, freight rail and smart electrical-grid systems, and new investments in renewable energy. And the final $4 billion would provide federal loan guarantees to underwrite private credit that is extended to finance building retrofits and investments in renewable energy.
The Green Recovery program could be paid for with proceeds from auctions of carbon permits under a global warming cap-and-trade program that will drive private investments into clean energy and raise public revenue through carbon permit auctions. A cap-and-trade program will enable America to reduce global warming pollution to the levels science indicates are needed to avoid the worst effects of global warming.
Supporters of the plan include the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, the union group Blue Green Alliance, the poverty-fighting Green for All organization, the New Jersey Work Environment Council and Working America, the community affiliate of the AFL-CIO labor group.
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